My Life In Heroic Ruins
by Pinkbeauty63
Summary: The history of superheroes has long-gone been tarnished and glorified to be one of the most honored and hated subjects of mankind. Follow the many fortunate - right next to UNFORTUNATE - events that occur in the Summer/Rogers family when the Team, the Justice League, S.H.I.E.L.D, the X-Men and many more get involved in their mishaps. [Rated High T]
1. Introduction

**A/N: THIS IS MY FIRST OFFICIAL YOUNG JUSTICE/MARVEL FANFIC, SO I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY IT AND THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE OF THIS STORY. :)**

**(I AM A DISCLAIMER. I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE OR MARVEL. I ONLY OWN A FEW ORIGINAL CHARACTERS!)**

* * *

|INTRODUCTION|

So, her life didn't really change, did it? Well, apart from having just one handicap-able disability, she was just a normal looking thirteen-year-old girl from Brooklyn, NYC. Oh, and don't forget those super powers of hers. They were important too.

How was it, that whenever she walked passed someone on the street, they always had to stop and stare, just so that they could get a good look at what they thought was wrong with her? Honestly, no one had a clue. Do you? Does anyone else? Sorry for all the questions, this girl just really needed some answers... plus she was a very inquisitive person in general. All her life, the only thing she ever wanted was to be treated like she was actually a normal person... until five months ago. That was when it all changed.

First off, just to make things clear; she is not the person that you think she is. Her supposedly 'secret identity' hasn't been spoken about yet, or about what was wrong with her in the first place. Well, you get to find out now:

Her name was Brittany Summer.

And her alter-ego was Spider-Girl.

Amazing, huh? Get it? The 'Amazing Spider'- oh forget it. Jokes were never something to select her for being good at... but her cousin never had a problem with that. Okay, he wasn't really her cousin, but you could say he was her adopted cousin. His alter-ego was Spider-Man. Yeah, if his 'secret identity' was revealed, then you would've figured it out anyway since he almost never did crime-fighting with his mask on. Like, ever. Also, if you knew how he became Brittany's adopted cousin-sort-of - you would be sitting here, for the next thirty minutes, wondering why the heck you've even bothered to read this trash. You're welcome.

So, getting back to the point; the name was Brittany and as it has been implied earlier, she was an annoying little thirteen-year-old girl who has been obsessed with 1D and other boy bands as such since the start of her teenage years. BUT - fair warning, her family was really strange.

Now, not trying to blow your mind or anything, but just so you knew... her father was Captain America (holy crap...). Please, don't bother asking how he even has a family, let alone having one in the year 2010 (S.H.I.E.L.D was still trying to unfreeze his body, and even so, Cap's kids couldn't see him until next year according to Nick Fury... that was depressing).

Anywhore, continuing with explaining who Brittany's family was, she had two older sisters and one older brother (her mother was unknown. Yeah, another depressing thing after the other). Her eldest sibling was her sister, Natasha (Tash for short), and she would be a big biatch. Okay, she wasn't. Just trying to pull your strings. She was the best, okay? She looked like a supermodel, but somehow she also managed to be a superhero... maybe this could help. She looked like that American model and actress called... Amber Heard? Yeah, pretty sure that was what her name was. And Tash's alter-ego was basically just Green Lantern Girl. Nice name, huh? Brittany wished she was more like her. She was beautiful to the max and she was an honor-roll student with a scholarship to Yale. Yeah, yeah, she was better off going to Harvard, but she apparently wasn't 'smart enough' to get in. Man, if Steve Rogers was awake to know that his eldest daughter got into one of the highest ranking universities in the United States, he would be crying like an infant on Christmas Day.

Anyway, better get into introducing Britt's other two siblings. But you should know this: they were so frickin' annoying when they were together. You want to know why? Because they were twins. Yep. That's right. They were annoying as hell twins. Of course, the older one was the girl... who wasn't these days? (sense the sarcasm, please)

Okay, that was a dumb question, but anywhore... the female (sorry, the _sister_) was Katrina, but just call her Kat. Everyone called her Kat. And honestly, she was the biggest b-b-b-bitch to have existed since Santana Lopez from _Glee_. Not even kidding. No matter what situation she happened to be in, she always came up with some sort of insult to throw at someone's face (that poor person). It was kinda scary. Some might say she was 'Miss Popularity' (girls), some might say she was the 'Hottest Girl in School' (guys), and some might even say she was a school bully (everyone). Brittany had pretty much convinced herself that Kat was a she-devil. But the bright side of her was that she wasn't mean to her family and close friends (probably only half of the time) and she could get fairly over-protective when some idiot ever tried to bully or hurt those close to her. One of the two, choose your pick.

As for into introducing Britt's brother... a LOT of girls thought he was a total heart-throb. But his sisters were there when he woke up that one morning when his voice had finally cracked... gosh, all they wanted to do was tell him to shut up. But that wasn't the point. His name was Joseph, Joe for short (yeah, the three of them had names that could be shortened. Big deal). He was just the usual in high school: a football jock, looked like a young version of Matt Lanter (you know, the guy who played Edward Sullen in _Vampires Suck_) and also smart... ish. (okay. Totally kidding. He was pretty frickin' dumb)

The two twins obviously had superpowers too (if they didn't, this story would practically be a pile of turds). Kat was (yep, you guessed it) Cat Girl and Joe was... what you would call Havok 2.0 (just call him Havok, even though he was no Alex Summers). Kat obviously worked alongside Catwoman and Joe was a student at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (for like, six months until he got kicked out). Tash was the 'sidekick/protégé' for Hal Jordan A.K.A the Green Lantern of Earth. Don't ever get her mentor confused with John Stewart and every other lantern Tash didn't care about. You'll be sorry if you don't.

Cool story, huh? It hasn't even started.

So, now that you know who the Summer family is, we'll just skip all the other stuff that you want to know and get straight into the present. The family currently and has ever since resided at S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters under the adult supervision of Director Nick Fury, Agent Phil Coulson, Agent Maria Hill and from time to time, Agent Natasha Romanoff and Agent Clint Barton (Black Widow and Hawkeye). Tash used to live with her three siblings, but she got sick of S.H.I.E.L.D's 'shitty rules and guidelines'. She ended up living with her mentor in Coast City, so Brittany got stuck with the twins until Tash turned eighteen or until their dad got unfrozen. It was usually fun around S.H.I.E.L.D (although it wasn't supposed to be) but there were so many rules the siblings needed to follow, they probably couldn't go to the bathroom without being watched (creepy...). They guessed they saw what Tash was getting at.

But, apart from all the S.H.I.E.L.D. training and rules they had to follow through with, the kids still needed to go to school. The amount of drama that went on in that place scared the living daylights out of Brittany. She was usually a highly academic student, which was mainly why she got made fun of so much. But really, the main reason she get made fun of was because... she'd been recently diagnosed with epilepsy.

But, not to worry too much. It was only temporary (don't ask how. It involved Killer Frost, Green Goblin and some other guy). But it was also really frustrating that it didn't seem to go away (or get fixed, whichever one makes you the slightest bit happier) until the year 2016. Well, that was what the doctor predicted. It frickin' sucked having to go around everywhere with a pair of Ray Bans on (her lovely choice of sunglasses from then until forever).

It was also part of the reason why Britt didn't want her dad to get unfrozen... she just didn't want him to have to come home for the first time in the 21st century and find out that his youngest daughter has a possibly incurable health condition. She know that he was supposedly a tough guy, but she really didn't want to see him flinch at the first sight of her.

She'd just be a disappointment to him.

* * *

**HELLO! To those of you who have read my this story when it was first published, I'm sorry if I change a few things around. I've just been reading my chapters recently and what I've realised is that they were _really_ bad. Like, REALLY bad. So, I hope you don't mind me editing all the chapters to third person now, and that I edit any mistakes I've made.**

**If you liked it, please review, favorite and follow the story and if you didn't like it, please review, favorite and follow my story.**

**Happy Reading! XD**


	2. How Things Got Started

**Chapter 1: How Things Got Started**

**COAST CITY  
JULY 3, 21:45 EST**

Tash sighed, as she fell on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. She felt extremely exhausted from finally finishing that night's assignment. Why teachers had to torture students like that; not even she knew the answer to that. All she knew was that tomorrow was going to be a truck load of awesome. Want to know why?

It was because _she _was gonna go behind those platinum (golden, marble... whichever) doors at the Hall of Justice and most hopefully, become part of the Justice League... or at least get to be part of the Justice League briefing... but, hey, she'd even get to see some fellow sidekicks whilst she was there.

She pondered who was going to be there tomorrow... oh, yeah. She knew that Batman, Flash, Aquaman and Green Arrow were gonna be there. Now, their sidekicks were... oh, _of course_. There was obviously Robin (that little twerp), Kid Flash (nothing but a clutz), Aqualad (eh, he seems pretty civilized) and then there was Speedy... hot damn.

Tash looked over at her laptop which was still open, sitting on her desk, as she looked over at her screensaver. It was a photo of when she, Kat, Joe and Brittany went to Malibu beach for Brittany's tenth birthday.

Jeez, she was only fifteen back then. Tash didn't even have a care in the world if she knew that she was gonna be a kick-ass superhero someday.

But, the more Tash looked at it, it just reminded her of all the times that her father hadn't been there to raise them. Instead, her siblings were stuck with agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and were brought up to follow strict orders. Meanwhile, she was just living life with plain old Hal Jordan.

Okay, he wasn't _old_; it was just really boring that Tash had to keep coming to the same apartment _every single day_ and not know if any changes had been made toward the unfreezing of her father.

Well, tomorrow was supposed to be Captain Steve Rogers' birthday ('coincidentally'). If he was awake, Tash's gift to him would probably be an iPhone. See how he'd cope with _that_.

Also, tomorrow was Independence Day and since Tash was Steve Rogers' eldest daughter/child/offspring/whatever, she had to make a stupid speech for all the government and army officials to hear. Honestly, she didn't know where to start. All she got was just mind blank.

She guessed she'd just have to see what tomorrow brought.

* * *

**GOTHAM CITY  
JULY 4, 12:00 EDT**

It was all nothing but just another peaceful day in Gotham City Park, with kids playing games and families having barbeques... until all was interrupted by none other than Mister Freeze, who was inconveniently freezing civilians. As he took aim at the people attempting to escape his latest rampage, a batarang suddenly hit his cold gun, quickly saving the fleeing civilians.

"Batman. I was wondering when you'd-"

Freeze turned to the direction the batarang came from, and found that no one was there. He then heard a laugh, and Robin jumped onto his glass dome.

"Oh. Boy Wonder. The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison? Frankly, I'm underwhelmed," said Freeze.

Robin then threw two batarangs at him, which cracked two holes in his dome.

"Great, but I'm kinda in a hurry here," quipped Robin.

"Kids. Always in such a rush. I prefer to preserve these moments... forever."

"Not talking to you."

Freeze took his aim at Robin, as Batman jumped (sorry, you could say _glides_, _flies_) into the scene and punched him, cracking the dome completely.

* * *

**STAR CITY  
JULY 4, 09:01 PDT**

Icicle Jr. was wreaking havoc on the Star City suspension bridge, flipping and overturning cars, using his cryokinetic powers to do so.

As Junior laughed maliciously, several arrows explode around him, and he looked to the top of the bridge to see Green Arrow and Speedy taking their aim.

"Finally... I was wondering what a guy had to do to get a little attention around here," exclaimed Junior, throwing icicle-shards at the two archers.

"Junior's doing this for attention?" asked Speedy, as he and Green Arrow deflected the shards of ice with their arrows. They both skidded down one of the arches of the bridge and started shooting arrows again. "I'm telling you now, this little distraction better not interfere."

Speedy flipped into the air and shot an arrow which knocked Junior out flat.

"Poor kid. Had a glass jaw," chuckled Green Arrow.

"Hilarious. Can we go? Today's the day," said Speedy quickly.

* * *

**PEARL HARBOR  
****JULY 4, 06:02 HST****  
**

In Pearl Harbor, Aquaman and Aqualad arrived to prevent Killer Frost from destroying an oil tanker aboard a ship.

With Killer Frost standing at the bow of the ship, she hurled her ice powered attacks at Aquaman and Aqualad, who dodged each strike, although Aquaman's torso was frozen by one particular attack.

Aqualad jumped past Aquaman as he broke out of the ice encasing him.

Aquaman then questioned his partner, "Don't tell me you're not excited."

"Right now, my king, I am more focused on the matter at hand."

Aqualad dodged more cryokinetic attacks from Killer Frost, and then used his Water-Bearers to knock her out with a ball of ice.

"Well?" asked Aquaman, folding his arms.

Aqualad finally admitted to his masked excitement that he'd been building up all day.

"Yes, I'm excited. Today's the day."

* * *

**CENTRAL CITY  
****JULY 4, 11:03 CDT****  
**

Meanwhile in Central City, the ever-so energetic Speedsters, Flash and Kid Flash were attempting to prevent Captain Cold from robbing a Gem Depository.

Cold had been shooting at them with his cold gun, as the two ran circles around him.

"Stealing ice? Seriously? Isn't that a bit cliché, even for Captain Cold?" asked Flash, still running in circles.

Kid Flash was first to act as he groaned impatiently, "Come on. We don't have time for this".

Stealing his cold gun, Kid Flash skidded to the other side, running into the circle, as Flash punched Cold across the face, knocking him out.

"Calm down, Kid," said Flash.

"Oh, please. You'll chat it up with the cops, with bystanders... with Cold, even. No. No way. Today's the day," said Kidd Flash, a grin spreading across his face.

* * *

**COAST CITY  
****JULY 4, 12:04 EST****  
**

"You're seriously still in bed?" Tash asked Hal, as she barged into his room and opened up the curtains, as bright sunlight shined through the windows. "You're not even sleeping! You're just lying there texting whichever girl you thought you slept with last night!"

"Hey, that is _not_ true," answered Hal sleepily, shielding his eyes from the light. "I was checking the weather patterns."

"Well, what does it look like to you outside, huh? Come on Hal! Today is really important. I just went to DC to do my speech in front of old-man military officials, to find out that you haven't even left your apartment yet!"

Tash then had no choice but to pull out a bunch of flowers from a vase and tip all the excess water onto Hal.

"What the heck was that for!?"

"Your laziness! I don't wanna be the last ones there, 'kay? Now, hurry up. We're going in twenty minutes.

_Today's the day."_

As Tash walked out of the room, Hal quickly looked over at his alarm clock to find that he had already wasted five minutes staring into space.

* * *

**WASHINGTON DC  
****JULY 4, 14:00 EDT****  
**

Upon the arrival of Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow and their sidekicks, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Girl surprisingly arrived before the Speedsters did.

"Wow, I would've thought that Flash and KF would be here before us," said Hal to Green Arrow.

"Let me guess, you slept in?" said Arrow, as GLG intervened.

"Oh, that is an _under statement_. He was supposed to leave his apartment and meet me here so that we would be the first ones to arrive. So, I had to go all the way back to Coast City and give him what for," explained Tash with an annoyed tone in her voice.

At last, Flash and Kid Flash zoomed up to the group of heroes, just in the nick of time.

"Aw, man. I knew we'd be the last ones here!" exclaimed KF.

The group of superheroes started to make their way to the Hall of Justice. Along the way, a heap of photographers and random fans started to shout out things like:

"I see Flash and Flash Jr.!"

"His name is Speedy."

"No, Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick!"

"Well, that makes no sense."

"They're right. It does make no sense," whispered Tash to Speedy, as he answered, "Oh, shut up." Tash started laughing as Green Lantern and Green Arrow exchanged looks.

"Hey, what' s so funny?" asked KF, shuffling between them.

"Well, nothing now," answered Tash, pulling a straight face.

The heroes arrived at the Hall of Justice with their protégés.

"Have all five sidekicks been in the same place at the same time?" asked KF in wonderment.

"_Don't_ call us sidekicks. Not after today," said Speedy coldly.

"Yeesh," said Kid Flash, as he went to Robin's side. "First time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed - why isn't anyone ever just _whelmed?_" asked Robin.

The group entered the Hall and Robin stared in awe at the sight of the golden statues of the Justice League.

"Oh, maybe that's why."

The heroes got greeted by Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado.

Manhunter walked up to the young heroes. "Robin, Green Lantern Girl, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash; welcome."

Kid Flash and Robin then did their little fist pump, as Aqualad pushed them along.

"You now have unlimited access to the the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course, our library," continued Manhunter, as everyone walked into the library.

"Make yourselves at home," said Flash, gesturing towards the seats. Aqualad, Kid Flash and Robin occupied the seats, as Speedy and GLG stayed standing.

The whole scene suddenly became awkward, so Tash picked up a book from a random shelf and pretended to be interested in it.

"We shouldn't be long," said Batman, as the computer started scanning the League members.

"Recognized; Batman - 02, Flash - 04, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) - 05, Aquaman - 06, Martian Manhunter - 07, Green Arrow - 08, Red Tornado - 16." That, to the young heroes, was altogether really cool and really tedious.

"Wait, that's it?" said Speedy suddenly, his voice being raised by the minute. "You promised us a _real_ look inside. Not some glorified backstage pass," he said, crossing his arms.

"It's a first step," quipped Flash. "You guys have been granted access few others get."

"Oh, _really_," argued Speedy, as he gestured toward the big balcony that held a heap of tourists, photographers and yet more fans. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on!"

Green Arrow stepped forward. "Roy, you just need to be patient."

"What I need is respect," said Speedy in an agitated tone.

He turned to the rest of the sidekicks. "They're treating us like kids! Even worse, like _sidekicks,_" he said as he accentuated the word 'sidekicks'. "We deserve better than this."

It was seriously that awkward, even the tourists outside had stopped taking pictures to try and see what was going on.

"You're kidding me, right?" he asked. "You're playing their game? Why? Because you think they play fair?! Today was supposed to be _the_ day," he emphasized with his fist. "Step one into becoming full-fledged members of the League."

"Well, sure man," answered Kid Flash nervously. "But I thought step one was just the tour of the HQ?"

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ! I bet they didn't tell you this is a false get-up for tourists and a pit stop for catching Zeta Beam tubes to the real thing." Everyone remained extremely uncomfortable by how Speedy knew all this. "It's an orbiting satellite via the Watchtower."

Not even Wally had anything to say. Instead, Green Arrow got welcomed by a glare from none other than Batman.

"I know, I know, but I thought maybe we could make an exception...?" said the archer in a sheepish manner. Yet, Batman remained motionless. "Or not."

And then Aquaman stepped up. "You're not helping your cause here, son. Stand down. Or-"

"Or what?" Speedy hastily interrupted. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son." He then looked over at his mentor. "Heck, I'm not even his. I thought we were partners," he said, as he came face to face with Green Arrow. "But not anymore."

Speedy then took off his hat and slammed it on the ground. Everyone watched with shocked faces, as he began to walk towards the door.

"I guess they're right about you three. You're not ready," he aimed at the boys, whom were still sitting in their seats.

He then walked over to Tash, who had a disappointed look on her face and had her arms crossed.

"And you... I thought I expected better from you," he said.

"Well, I thought I expected better from _you,_" she retorted. She made her way back to her mentor's side.

Not thinking of anything else to say, Roy took one last look at her, not even bothering to look at his other colleagues, and walked out.

"He was a jerk nonetheless," said Tash, facing the floor.

"What a way to spend your dad's birthday," muttered Hal.

"I did my speech, anyway. I'd better get to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I need to pay my siblings a visit whilst it lasts."

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter and you follow my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER! **

**Happy Reading, guys! ;)**


	3. School, Stakeouts & Moving

**Chapter 2: School, Stakeouts &amp; Moving**

**NEW YORK CITY  
****JULY 6, 8:24 EDT****  
**

"Ew, school sucks. Can't I just skip today and go for the rest of the week? Monday is _the_ crappiest day of the week," complained Kat to her older sister, as Tash dropped her, Joe and Brittany off at school.

"Hey, nobody's disagreeing with you, but yet _they_ still go. _They_ still wanna get jobs. I suggest you start doing the same instead of shoving people's heads down bathroom stalls and stealing their lunch money," said Tash, seeing them off through her car window.

"Oh, whatever Miss Smarty-pants. Just 'cause you don't get to go to school anymore doesn't mean you have to rub it in," shot back Kat.

"Just 'cause you're a lot prettier than most girls doesn't mean you have to rub it in, either. Especially by putting weird things in their food whilst they're not looking and hanging freshmen from their locker doors."

Kat then put up the finger at her and mouthed 'fuck you' to go with it.

"Yeah, real charming Kat. I'm sure Dad would be real proud if he knew that he had a daughter like you."

"Shut up! Go take a hike in Central Park or something! You and your expensive car!" She then turned away and stormed up the steps to everyone's doom (the school building).

"Love you too..." said Tash weakly, as her earpiece started buzzing.

"Hello?" she asked, driving off, being mindful of traffic around her. Well, New York traffic was different to Coast City traffic. No one could really blame her.

"Natasha no. 2?" It was the voice of Agent Phil Coulson.

"Yeah, what's up?" He'd gotten used to Tash speaking informally. It _was_ the 21st century.

"Are you and your siblings planning on going to Mount Justice later on this evening?"

"Um... I was actually gonna go there now via the nearest Zeta-Tube, but... if I have another mission to do for S.H.I.E.L.D then I'm all for it-"

"No, no. You're fine. Director Fury just wanted to know if your roster was clear for any stakeouts in Central Park, since you're already in NYC."

"Oh, yeah, sure I can. I don't have to go to the Cave _now_. I can do a stakeout. My sister said for me to go take a hike in Central Park anyway. And to bring my expensive car with me."

"Good. Now contact me when you're at the park. I'll give you the details there. Coulson out."

"What am I even looking for anyways?" whispered Tash to herself, as she beeped the horn at a slow driver.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****JULY 6, 9:06 EDT****  
**

"Okay, Coulson. Who's the person I'm looking for?"

"Oh, I never said anything about a person."

"Wait, what? Then what am I watching?"

"The scenery," he said simply, as Tash looked dumbfounded.

"I-I'm sorry... what did you just say?"

"The _scenery_. You know, the trees, the grass, all the itty-bitty flowers. And of course, the hidden land-mine that's underneath the riverbed of the Central Park Bridge."

As he said that, Tash's mouth literally hung open.

_There was a frickin' _land-mine_ in Central Park!_ _What the fuck?_ was all Tash could think of.

"Coulson, why on earth am _I_ on this mission?! Why not a trained professional or something? Why me? Is this another one of Fury's stupid apt. tests? Because I'm _not_ up for it!"

"Well, why not? You wanted to become part of S.H.I.E.L.D if you didn't get into the Justice League."

"Yeah well, none of us know that yet!"

"Hey, Superman would be very pleased to have a member of the Justice League save a park from a land-mine."

Tash just sat there in disbelief, as she saw innocent civilians cross over the bridge, just minding their own business.

"Well, do you have any idea how to disarm it? And _don't_ tell me I have to figure it out myself! I'm not _that_ smart!"

"Really? You're not even smart enough to get into Harvard?"

Oh, no, he did not.

Closing her eyes in frustration, Tash finally gave in to Coulson's orders.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth, "but just so you know, I only got into Yale instead of Harvard because of one _stupid-ass_ exam."

"Oh, really? What subject?"

"It was History."

"Well, if only your father could have been there to help you. He is from the 1940's, after all."

"Can you stop with all the father talk? If my dad was here, a lot of things wouldn't have happened!"

"Like failing your exam?"

"You know what? I think I might actually disarm this by myself. I don't need your help."

And that was that. Tash hung up on Coulson and got to work.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****JULY 6, 12:28 EDT****  
**

There was only two minutes until class was over for Kat. Luckily for her, that meant finally getting to eat lunch. Her therapist did say for her to go to the library and do some studying, but she decided that she'd rather go sit with girls that eat their feelings then go study for an exam.

Soon after lunch, Kat had Health class and after that she had... History. She got A's every time, which made her not want to sit in class for an hour and a half. But, if she wanted to keep her rightful place as head cheerleader and resident mean girl of Midtown... she guessed she had better do what she was told.

"Katrina! Will you please see me after class?" Oh, crap. Teacher's just gotta hate, don't they?

"But, Miss. I-"

"No excuses, Miss Summer."

Kat groaned in her chair, as the clock striked 12:30pm. She and her teacher waited until everyone else piled out of class; her brother giving her a look saying 'Ooh, what did you do now?'.

Hahaha - he was a dick.

"Come on, Miss. I need to go to the library to go study," said Kat, acting all bored yet she felt a twinge of annoyance.

"Katrina, your family is in danger," said her teacher in a serious tone. What was she _talking_ about? According to S.H.I.E.L.D., her family was perfectly fine. Plus, who was this lady to talk? She was a Maths teacher for God's sake!

"E-excuse me? What do you mean, 'my family is in danger'? Wha-you're a high school teacher! What else are you? A part-time fortune-teller that makes $2 an hour on the side!?" accused Kat, now standing up.

"I think it's time you know now," said her teacher, standing up as well.

"It's time that I know what? That you sound really crazy now? I might as well tell the princip-"

But she never got to finish her sentence, because her Maths teacher had shape-shifted into Mystique.

* * *

"Joseph and Brittany Summer, please report to the principal's office immediately." That was the school's loudspeaker.

Brittany quickly looked up from doing her work, as she heard all her classmates go 'Oooooh'.

"Brittany, you better go. Just email me your essay," said her teacher. He always gave her something to do, whether it was finishing off her work, or starting a whole new assignment. It just wasn't fair.

"Yes, sir." Brittany quickly gathered all her books into her bag and avoided everyone's stares and whispers as she walked out of the room.

She figured she should've quickly gone to her locker and get all her books for homework. She couldn't just rock up at S.H.I.E.L.D with no work to do.

"Hey, Brittany! What's going on? I thought we're supposed to go to the principal's office? What are you doing here?" It was Joe. Wearing his Letterman jacket and a pair of Converse. Nice. Carrying only one book. Nice. Britt wondered how he got through his day with only one book.

"Yeah, I need homework to do. If I don't have any homework to do, it screws up my whole daily schedule," said Brittany, quickly shoving more books into her bag and shutting her locker.

"You're weird."

"I know. Let's go."

She and Joe quickly made their way to the principal's office... to find their principal and Kat sitting down; facing them, as they walked in.

"Joseph, Brittany; please take a seat," said the principal.

They both took their assigned seats, as Brittany looked over at Joe, who was giving Kat a 'What the heck is going on? Whatever we did, you take the blame for it' look.

As if knowing what was inside Joe's head, the principal started talking.

"I wanted you to come here, so that I could tell you what has been going on very recently." And right then and there, their school principal had suddenly shape-shifted into one of their not-so-favorite X-Men, Mystique.

"What are _you_ doing here?" asked Joe accusingly.

"God, do you ever listen? She just said-" started Brittany, but Mystique cut her off, silencing her with a hand.

"Brittany. He has a right to ask questions." Joe and Brittany started making faces at each other, but quickly got scolded to stop.

For a while, Mystique stayed silent. The awkwardness level was up to about 8/10 at the rate of silence that was in the room.

Joe started to speak. "Um-"

"Shh!" Wow. That was the first thing that came out of Kat's mouth since her other two siblings arrived.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about where you're going to go after I tell you this," said Mystique.

Joe and Brittany still looked extremely confused.

"Hm... Mount Justice is where you should be safe enough to go."

"I'm sorry, wha-"

"Shut up!" Kat scolded Brittany.

"Okay. Here's the plan," said Mystique, ignoring Kat's rudeness. "First off, your family is in danger, due to obvious warnings from me; which means that you cannot live at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters anymore. If you're wondering _why _you lot are in danger; I'm afraid I cannot say. You're going to have to either stay at Mount Justice or think of some other place for you to reside. In the meantime, the Cave would be the best solution to your problem."

Honestly, none of them didn't know what to say. And it was weird that Kat was the first one to know about this. Usually, she was too immature for information like that. She was the oldest out of Brittany, Joe and her, so... anything could've happened for all they cared.

"Great. When do we leave?" said Joe, as if nothing that Mystique said had gotten into that thick head of his.

"As soon as possible. It shouldn't take long to Zeta your way back to DC to collect all your belongings and go to the Cave. Black Canary and Red Tornado will be waiting there for you," continued Mystique.

The trio just sat there in silence again. Except this time it wasn't as awkward. It was everyone thinking at the same time that made the air around them clearer. They knew what they had to do, so they couldn't waste time any longer.

* * *

**WASHINGTON DC  
****JULY 6, 15:18 EDT****  
**

"Okay, Fury. I did my little so-called stakeout, which was really a land-mine disarming mission which could've gone exceedingly bad, if I had been any more stupid. What's my next agenda?" said Natasha, as she strutted into Director Fury's office.

"Moving into a new home," said Fury; Tash almost dropping her phone.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"What I _mean_, is that all of your luggage and precious belongings are at Mount Justice, and that will be your new home from now on."

"But... _why?_ I've never even lived here at S.H.I.E.L.D. I live in Coast City with Hal Jordan being my active guardian," argued Tash.

"Well, he convinced himself to send you off. I know, it is heartbreaking to get separated from your mentor, but it's just how it is."

It was like time had just suddenly stopped. No dog fighting at Ferris Air? No going to the gym on Saturdays? What sort of life was that?

"If-if that's what has to be done..." Tash thought about it for a quick second before giving Fury her full answer, "... then let it be done."

Moving must have only meant one thing:

Tash was gonna have to join Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash's stupid team.

* * *

**End of the chapter! **

**I hope you don't forget about my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	4. Meeting the Cave - Part 1

**Chapter 3: Meeting the Cave - Part 1**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****JULY 8, 8:04 EDT****  
**

"So... I guess this is home now..." said Kat, as Joe, Brittany Tash and her stood around the galley in the recreational part of Mount Justice. "Cool," she finished. Oh, and _of course_, she'd be eating something at a time like this.

_How are we gonna get to school?_ Joe thought. _Our school is all the way in_ _New York._

It was hard enough getting to Midtown High via Zeta Beam all the way from Washington DC, but from _New England?_

Before anyone could say anything else, Black Canary and Red Tornado walked in.

"Welcome to Mount Justice. The others will be here at any moment," greeted Red Tornado.

Suddenly, the computer started recognizing people: "Recognized; Batman - 02. Flash - 04. Hawkman - 09. Captain Marvel - 15. Robin - B01. Aqualad - B02. Kid Flash - B03. Superboy - B04."

"Wow, that's a mouthful," said Kat.

"Come on. Let's go see the others," instructed Black Canary.

The group all walked into the main center to find exactly who they were expecting. Then they got down to business.

"For this new 'covert team', the League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason why we have these big targets on our chests," explained Flash.

"But Cadmus proves that the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," followed on Aquaman.

"And the five of you, along with an extra four members, will be that team," finished Batman.

"Cool! Wait. Five including another four members? Who's the ninth...or fifth?" asked Robin, doing the math in his head.

All of a sudden, the computer recognized another two people: "Recognized; Martian Manhunter - 07. Miss Martian - B05."

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," explained Batman.

Miss Martian stepped forward, as everyone observed her. Apparently, it took Kid Flash only 1.2 seconds to do so, since he zoomed straight up to her and started introducing everyone.

"Hey, Superboy, come meet Miss M!" Robin called over.

Supes walked over to the rest of the group (he wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, so he was busy staring at things), as Miss Martian suddenly shape-shifted her shirt color to the same black as Superboy's.

"I like your t-shirt," she said, giving him a smile, as his face stayed straight.

Things were gonna get interesting.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****JULY 18, 11:16 EDT****  
**

Guess what? Tash's siblings had to go to Happy Harbor for school. And another thing: Tash had to go, too, much to her dismay. She'd already gotten into a university, so she didn't really see the need of still having to attend high school.

But, Black Canary told Tash that she should at least finish high school early, or try to get into Harvard a second time.

Kat was all pissed that she had to make an attempt at gaining dominance by being a head cheerleader again, Joe was pissed because he couldn't see his ignorant girlfriend anymore, but surprisingly, it was Brittany who seemed happy about the move.

Tash guessed that Brittany didn't have very many friends at Midtown either. Tash reckoned her little sister could use a fresh start and make up a cool cover story about how she got epilepsy. She thought it was a bit strange but, she seemed to know what she was doing.

Anywhore, the two twerps were coming over to the Cave (Kid Flash and Robin), so Tash decided to make other plans. The plan involved a strategy called 'begging Hal to take Tash back to Coast City'.

Although the place practically had everything the average superhero needed to survive, it still didn't feel like home to the Summer family. Especially when they had to share it with Superboy and Miss Martian.

"Recognized; Robin - B01. Kid Flash - B03." And that would be Tash's cue.

She walked out into the main training center to find Aqualad already having contacted Red Tornado, as Tweedledum and Tweedledee made their way to their third wheel.

"Hey, where are you going?" Oh, KF. He'd never learn when it was time to mind his own business.

"Narnia," Tash answered back.

"Really?" he said in a 'seriously, that's your answer?' tone.

"Whatever. I'm going to Coast City. I don't think I can spend another minute in this place. I'm starting to have anxiety issues."

And she left them in bewilderment, as she continued operation 'Narnia'.

* * *

Brittany walked into the main training center to find the golden trio.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"Red Tornado's about to arrive! Hopefully with a mission! C'mon!" beamed Robin. And out of nowhere, he grabbed Brittany's hand and pulled her along.

The rest of the Team (excluding Tash, the party pooper) met them outside to go greet Red Tornado. All of them being eager for some action around the joint, they hustled Red Tornado and asked him if he was gonna give them a mission anytime soon.

"Mission _assignments_ are the Batman's responsibility," said Red Tornado.

"But it's been over a week now..." said Robin, his words got drowned by his excitement slowly dying from the news he was getting. He was still making contact with Britt's hand by the way. She would've told him to let go, but she wanted him to realize his own faults.

"You'll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company," continued Red Tornado.

"This team is not a social club," said Aqualad.

"No. But I have been told social interaction is an important team-building exercize. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the Cave." And those were his last words, as he disappeared through the mountain's doorway.

_Fi__nally_, Robin let go of Brittany's hand. He seemed to realize his fault after all.

The group went back into the Cave.

"So... what do we do now?" asked Kat, her hands inside the front pockets of her sweater.

"Um... me and Superboy can play tour guides?" suggested Miss Martian. Seriously, had she forgotten _already_ that other people lived there too?

"Or Brittany, Joe and Kat could, if they want?"

Oh. Looked like she _did_ remember.

"Well, count me out." Sheesh, Superboy had the attitude of an old grandpa. Someone needed to cheer him up a bit.

"Um... okay," agreed Miss Martian.

The group hadn't even gone five minutes into the tour and it was already _that_ awkward.

As Miss Martian took the lead of the 'tour', Superboy started to use his super senses. And frankly, Brittany's spider-sense picked it up, too.

Superboy sniffed the air. "I smell smoke."

Britt did the same. "So do I."

Miss M frantically gasped in surprise.

"My cookies!"

Well, Miss Martian's baked goods were most likely going to be charcoal black if _Superboy_ could smell them.

The Martian quickly flew away into the kitchen and used her telekinesis to open the oven and pull out the tray of cookies.

It took the rest of the group even longer to get there because they had to run.

"Oh, no," sulked Miss M. Wow, she would've made a great actress at the rate she was going. Just a fun fact.

"I'm sure they would've tasted great," said Aqualad.

"Well... _he_ doesn't seem to mind," pointed out Robin, as Wally ate one of the burnt cookies.

"Anywhore..." drawled Kat, interrupting what KF was about to say. "Miss M, have you thought of a new Earth name yet?"

"Yes, actually. My real name is M'gann M'orzz. The Earth translation would be Megan. What are your names?"

"Oh. My apologies. My name is Kaldur'ahm, but my friends call me Kaldur," shared Aqualad.

"The name's Wally. Wally West. See, I like telling people my name, unlike Mr. Dark-glasses over here. Batman doesn't like him telling his secret identity to other people," intercepted Kid Flash, gesturing towards Robin.

"Well, _my_ name's Katrina, but everyone calls me Kat. That thing over there is my twin brother Joseph, but just call him Joe, and this here, is my little sister Brittany," explained Kat, gesturing to each of her siblings.

"Hey, just asking; why do you wear sunglasses all the time? Do you like, have something going on with sun or somethin'..." Wally asked Brittany. Honestly, the poor girl couldn't go one day without somebody mentioning her sunglasses.

"Why on earth would I tell _you?_"

"I-I was only asking," he said, putting his hands up.

"Whatever."

Then suddenly, Superboy had a great big outburst and shouted, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Um..." started Brittany, but then something got into her head as well.

_[What's wrong? I-I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.] _It was M'gann.

"Well, we're not on Mars!" exclaimed Kat, as Joe tried to gently sit her down in the next room.

"M'gann stop! Things are different here on Earth. Here, your powers can lead up to an extreme invasion of privacy," said Kaldur.

"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic genomes left a bad taste in his brain," said Wally.

"I-I didn't mean to..." M'gann started.

"Just... stay... out!" And Superboy went into the next room, as well.

"Well, that blew up as planned," said Brittany. They didn't even know what to do next.

* * *

**End of the chapter! I know, this chapter is a bit short but I needed to update something right?... right?**

**Anyways, please don't forget my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER! **

**Note: Also, thank you to the people who reviewed, I really appreciate it! Keep at it, even if it is a PM, keep at it!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	5. Meeting the Cave - Part 2

**Chapter 4: Meeting the Cave - Part 2**

Damn, it was super awkward in there thanks to Superboy.

Robin hoped he didn't freak Brittany out by taking her hand. He was just really excited for a mission... and then they all got shat on by Red Tornado and his robotic tendencies.

Megan soon came up with an idea that would hopefully pass the time. She lead the group out into the hallway (Kat and Joe came along as well), but Superboy had stayed in the living room, sitting on the couch. Megan managed to urge him to come.

She brought them all into the hangar; the group expecting to see something cool, but all they found was a compact-in-size space shuttle.

"This is my Martian Bio-Ship," she explained, as the group observed it. To some, it wasn't exactly the best space shuttle they'd seen before...

"Cute. Not aerodynamic, but cute," Wally continued to flirt. He's been doing that ever since he first met Megan. It got kinda really annoying.

"That's because it's at rest, silly." Suddenly, the cute little compact ship that everyone saw, shape-shifted into probably one of the most alien-tech ships they had ever seen. Robin was definitely feeling something other than whelmed.

Megan walked up to it, making a ramp to walk up. "Well, you coming?" she asked. They all agreed to go aboard, but also with some mild hesitation.

"Take a seat." Seven seats appeared before the young heroes, with safety straps that strapped themselves around everyone as soon as we sat down.

"Whoa... this is trippy," observed kat, as she stared at all the buttons and levers.

Robin spotted Brittany sitting at the front next to her brother, as they both started admiring all the Martian technology. He wondered how she could have ever been bullied and made fun of (he did a bit of late night 'detective work' on the Summer family) when she looked completely normal. Well, at that angle. In an alien ship.

"This is amazing," he said in awe, attempting to get Brittany's attention.

"She sure is," said Wally, whilst staring at Megan. Megan looked at Wally in confusion, as he made an attempt at fixing his error. "I-I meant the ship! Because, as you know, all ships are a 'she'."

"Wally," said Kat.

"Yeah?"

"Just do us all a favor and shut up."

"No!"

"Aw, why not?"

"Because I don't want to!"

"Just shut the fuck up!"

"Guys!" exclaimed Brittany over Kat and Wally's bickering."The aim of today was supposed to be us trying to build a team, right?"

"Yeah, so?" asked Joe.

"So, we have to start acting like one!"

And so they all remained silent to think about what Britt said - until...

* * *

Red Tornado contacted the group of heroes to tell them that there had been a series of disruptive events going in Happy Harbor.

Miss Martian put the Bio-Ship into camouflage mode as they approached the town.

"Hm... I'm starting to have second thoughts about this," said Robin.

"Well, a fire brought you to Superboy," obliged Megan.

The Team suddenly got caught inside of an unexpected miniature tornado, as they kept circling around until Megan got the Bio-Ship out of its orbit.

Everyone got out of the Bio-Ship and were ready to kick some ass (in street clothes).

Kid Flash got out his goggles. Brittany pulled off her two sweat bands and on each wrist were her web-slingers. Kat went along as well and unraveled her whip from the waistband of her jeans where her belt should have gone.

"Hey, Robin, are tornadoes common in New England - wait, where did he go?" said Aqualad.

Robin just disappeared. Poof.

"You know, you could ask _me_ as well. I ace Geography too. And no, they're not common in New England," answered Brittany.

Meanwhile, Robin was in and abandoned warehouse, where he met the villain first. The rest of the Team found him battling some sort of android whilst he got thrown around by it.

"Who's your new friend?" exclaimed Aqualad to Robin.

"Didn't catch his name!" answered Robin, as he dodged yet again, another attack.

"Oh, my apologies. The name's Mr. Twister!" said the android, as he raised himself into the air by creating two new tornadoes.

Kat quickly somersaulted onto a thin beam (whilst wearing high-heeled boots. How badass is that?) and balanced her way towards Mr. Twister. She roughly whipped him across his metal face, which made him get caught only a _little_ off-guard. But he just didn't like to give up and so he whacked her back across the face, leaving her to land on the ground, hissing.

Brittany had a go and started by crawling along the ceiling and attacking him from above. It apparently didn't surprise him any less because she just got thrown across the warehouse.

Of course, Joseph actually caused some damage because he's Havok 2.0. He shot one big laser beam at Mr. Twister, burning a circular hole in his shirt, revealing a round, metal plate on his torso. With an American emblem on it. What a coincidence.

Everyone had their goes at Mr. Twister, but so far were unsuccessful. Even Superboy.

Mr. Twister then exited the warehouse and flew outside to where Kid Flash had fallen. After a bit, everyone woke up and rejoined the fight, as Robin tried to take him on again, this time with Kid Flash.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children," taunted Mr. Twister.

"We're not children!" shouted Robin.

"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

"Well, we'll try to make you feel more _turbed!_" argued Robin.

"Stop trying to have a verbal fight with the android and start doing the physical!" Brittany appeared next to Robin, whom was along with KF.

As the others reappeared and Mr. Twister had disappeared after setting an attack on them for calling him Red Tornado, they all started to rival against each other. Well, mainly Kat and Superboy, or Superboy and Miss Martian...

"You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!" Superboy fired at M'gann.

"Hey! You're one to talk, 'clone from Cadmus'! Could you have assumed any better?" interfered Kat.

"It-it was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened to her," said Robin, earning a disappointed look from Brittany.

"It wasn't her fault! Heck, even _I_ could have made that mistake! But would you have blamed me for making it? No! Because you're all just _that_ racist towards Martians," argued Brittany.

"She didn't do it on purpose," said Aqualad.

"You are pretty inexperienced, Megan. Just hit the showers. We'll take it from here," said Wally, surprisingly.

It was Superboy's turn to shout: "Stay out of our way!"

He pounded away, Wally sped away and the rest except for Aqualad ran toward the rest of the chaos.

"I- I was just trying to be part of the team," said Megan weakly.

"To be honest, I'm not sure we have a team," answered Aqualad sympathetically.

* * *

**COAST CITY  
****JULY 18, 13:02 EDT****  
**

"Hal, you have _got_ to let me stay in Coast City. I still have a life here that I wasn't ready to leave!" Tash argued with Hal. She had ranted on and on for the past 25 minutes as to why Hal should let her come back to her _real_ home.

"Tash, you gotta get a grip on yourself! You live somewhere else now. I don't think my apartment's looked this big before!"

"Yeah. Because you renovated it, _genius!_ I need you to renovate it back!"

"Why don't you just find your own apartment, then?"

"Because-" Whoa. Was Natasha Summer actually at a loss for words?

"Because what, huh? Is it because you can't take care of yourself? You can't pay your own rent... what is it?"

"Hold that thought. I need to check on something." And at that, Tash left the building, leaving Hal speechless with a look on his face meaning 'what the fuck just happened?'.

Well, if you were wondering where she was going, it was somewhere that would be somewhat important to was about to happen next.

Tash was on her way to Star City.

* * *

**Please pay attention to my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	6. A Very Bad Move

**Chapter 5: A Very Bad Move**

**STAR CITY  
****JULY 18, 18:23 PDT****  
**

Tash hesitantly made her way to Queen Industries, assuming Green Arrow would be there, or at least Black Canary. She wouldn't expect Roy to be there. But yet, he was still the person she was looking for.

She quickly looked around to check if anyone was watching her, as she entered the building. All she saw were women, aristocrats, fancy furniture, and fancy everything. Man, Oliver Queen did live his life the good way.

Tasha made her way to the top floor using the elevator. She pushed the 'up' button as the elevator came down. It arrived quicker than she intended, so the things mustn't have been very busy that day. She pressed the top floor button, and as the doors were closing, somebody quickly put their hands through the gap (Tash assumed the elevator doors had motion sensors or something) and quickly got in as the doors finally shut.

Not paying attention to who the person was (Kat wouldn't stop texting Tash on how pissed she was at Superboy about their little encounter against an android called Mr. Twister), Tash turned to look at the person and then turned back to her phone - and she quickly had to look again because who she saw was not the person she actually expected to be there: it was Roy.

"Oh, Roy. I uh-er-eh-um-" Tash stuttered, as Roy had a look on his face saying 'spit it out already'. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here?" asked Roy, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, to be quite honest, I was actually looking for you." Tash tried to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"I would say the same thing, but I went to your apartment instead of here." That was a surprise.

"I was actually about half an hour ago. I then decided to go look for you."

"Oh. What did you want me for?"

"I wanted to ask you if you had any information on why my family's in danger. Mystique won't tell me shit. And no, it's not just an excuse for me to move out of Mount Justice."

"Well, if I told you, what's in it for me?"

"Wait... you actually have information on my family?" Tash was intrigued by what he had in store to tell her. "Are you being serious?"

"Dead serious." Roy put on a stoic expression, looking at himself in the mirrored walls of the elevator.

Tash hoped his little deal wasn't going to lead to anything she didn't have planned. As she thought about his offer, she thought about all the good things that could happen if she found out she could fix both her family and home problems. And... possibly personal problems.

"Fine. Whatever you want. I just want my life back."

"We'll discuss it when we get to the penthouse, which should be right about... now." And Roy was right. They both got into the penthouse, and Tash's immediate thought was, _this guy has an awesome legal guardian. I don't see why he'd ever wanna let go of his mentor. _

"Sweet. But doesn't GA live here? He ought to know you're here after you stormed out on us like that," she said, as Roy took her to the open bar.

"What GA doesn't know, won't kill him." And as Roy said that, he got a corkscrew and opened a bottle of wine and got out two glasses.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked, already pouring wine into the glasses anyway.

"Are you _really_ offering me alcohol?" said Tash in a bored tone, as Roy handed her a glass.

"Again, what GA doesn't know, won't hurt him."

And at that, the pair clinked their glasses, as Roy began to tell Tash all the information he knew.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****JULY 18, 18:54 EDT****  
**

"JOSEPH SUMMER!"

Yep, that sounded very much like Kat.

She had gotten out of the shower, wearing a towel, whilst her bright blond hair had gone dark from all the water, which was now dripping water all over the floor.

"Joe I swear to God, if you do not stop changing the water temperature to cold instead of hot, your well-earned football championship trophy will _cease to exist!_" and afterwards, she stormed into her room, slamming the door hard, so everyone could hear how frustrated she was.

Brittany quickly caught a glimpse of Joe and Wally running around the corner, escaping the wrath of Kat, even though she was in her room.

"What's _her_ problem?" asked Superboy.

"Three words: Wally. And. Joe." Brittany quickly turned around the corner as she went to go the hunt for the two pranksters.

It seemed they knew she was following them, since one of them probably saw her run in the direction they went.

Britt continued running down all the different hallways (how many are there, anyway?) and didn't have a sense of direction - BAM! She ran into somebody.

And that somebody was Robin.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry! I wasn't concentrating on where I was going, I-" she was seriously speaking gibberish.

"Brittany, it's okay. It's my fault, since I'm still here," said Robin, as he helped her up.

"Thanks. Well, I sorta thought you would have been in the Batcave, or somewhere... not here," she said, brushing off her clothes.

"Anyways, was that Kat I heard, yell out Joe's full name?"

"Uh... yeah. Embarrassing, I know. My family's weird-"

"Oh, no, no, no. I didn't mean it to come out like that, it's just; that girl can yell. And I mean really _yell_. She used to be so quiet." Robin would've known since Kat used to spend a majority of her time going on jewelry heists with her mentor, Catwoman.

"Oh," said Brittany, leaving a long pause afterwards. Why it always had to become so awkward between her and Robin? She had no frickin' idea, but it pissed her off. A lot.

* * *

**STAR CITY  
****JULY 18, 20:01 PDT****  
**

"So, what you're saying, is Starro only _one part_ of the danger that my family is to be protected from?" asked Tash. She'd already been through her third glass of wine.

"Well, Starro's main captives are supposed to be the Green Lanterns of Earth. They wanna try and brainwash you, so later on, he can invade Oa and destroy each member, one by one of the Guardians," said Roy, having had two glasses.

The two of them were slowly hitting the drunken stage; Roy who was trying very hard to see things clearly and not so much in a blur.

He turned on some music when Tash agreed to her end of the bargain. As they sat on the couch, Tash took off her shirt, revealing a lacy black bra, as she started kissing Roy deeply. He kissed her back just as passionately and ran his fingers through her hair.

Figure out how the rest of that night went.

* * *

**WASHINGTON DC  
****JUNE 19, 9:43 EST****  
**

"Dad, I wanted you to know; I _do_ want you to be part of this family and I hope you think it's not too bizarre for that 1940's brain of yours to understand.

"I hope that when you _do_ wake up from your frozen state, that you never forget the good soldier that you promised to be. Yeah, I know about that. Don't become a thick-headed gym junkie like these 21st century douche bags. They'll never be as good a man as you.

"I know, I have made one too many mistakes myself; some are too frickin' ridiculous to even mention out loud. And, I don't know if it's just me, but I'm pretty sure you made some pretty big oopsies as well... like when you crashed that fucking plane into the ocean. None of us four kids would be here today, of course, but... you would be dead, and we would be, devastatingly old if you didn't. To be quite honest, you still look like the hero you were back in WWII. And I'm still hoping scientists come up with some anti-aging method real soon."

Kat paused for a moment, at a loss for words. Then Black Widow and Agent Coulson came into the room.

"You confessed enough to your frozen father yet? Or you still trying to confess all your American sins to a true-blue _'Murican?_" Black Widow drawled.

"Haha, you're funny. I'm better off not saying another word. If I do, it'll probably be another rant for him to get unfrozen quicker. And I still wish it would happen, if S.H.I.E.L.D would let it," said Kat through gritted teeth, glaring at both Agent Coulson and Romanoff.

"We're still very sorry for the inconvenience, Kat. But it's a few more months until next year. Then, you'll be guaranteed to have your daddy back," answered Coulson as, she squinted her eyes at him.

Kat slowly walked outside of the testing room and sat out in the hallway. She knew she should have been at Mount Justice, but whenever she was having a hard time at some point in her supposedly useless life, she at least had somewhere she could go to vent. Or somebody - whatever.

All she want to say, was she knew her father absolutely detested bullies, and she was honestly trying to change her bitchy ways, even though everyone knew it was very impossible for her to do so. She didn't want to be a disappointment to him when he woke up.

* * *

**Please do the required procedure for my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	7. Team Leaders & Frozen Fathers

**Chapter 6: Team Leaders &amp; Frozen Fathers**

**CARIBBEAN SEA  
****JULY 22, 20:08 ECT****  
**

The Team were all sitting inside the Bio-Ship as Superbpy reminisced the mission details assigned to them by Batman. He told them that the island, Santa Prisca, the location where the world-wide producer of the illegal super steroid, Kobra Venom, was located, had ceased all shipping of the drug, despite the facility producing the steroid at full capacity.

All that went through Superboy's head, would be what Kat would say out loud: _what a load of bullcrap_. Hey, those were Kat's words, not his.

Their assignment was: to infiltrate the prison, figure out what was going on, and report back to the League. That was it. If the League felt that they needed to intervene, they would.

Then, the battle of being team leader broke out. Of course, Superbpy just wanted to stay out of the leadership zone, because he knew that he would never make a good leader (besides, leadership was more of a Superman thing) and he would be facing the odds of Robin, Wally, Joe, Brittany and of course, Kat. Aqualad and Miss Martian weren't feeling too up to the leadership thing either and Tash wasn't even on the mission.

"We are nearing Santa Prisca. Aqualad, get ready," said M'gann, as they neared the island.

Aqualad activated his Stealth-tech and the Bio-Ship entered camouflage mode. He dived into the water and went on to do his job, which was patching the heat and motion sensors. After he did his part, he gave the Team the order to move in.

Supes watched as everyone else got ready into stealth-mode. Basically, it was just Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Havok and Spider-Girl that had to. Robin and Cat Girl were already set.

Wally touched his chest and his whole outfit went black, except for the red lightning bolt in the middle of his chest.

"Like the new outfit, babe?" smirked Wally, aiming his flirt at M'gann. _Like Kat would say, 'this guy is really starting to piss me off', _thought Superboy. He also needed to keep in mind that Kat was a very bad influence.

"No, it looks ugly," Kat shot back, as Brittany snickered. Kat was also very good at making quick insults.

"Impressive." M'gann shape-shifted her outfit as well, so she was wearing all black, along with the red Martian cross at the front.

"Whoa..." Wally deserved to let himself be out-shined by a female protégé.

For Joe's uniform, he just had a full on spandex body suit with a big target on his chest (just add that the target was an American based one from Captain America's shield), yet he still made wearing spandex look somewhat not so bad.

As for Brittany's otufit, hers was the same spider spandex unitard she wore all the time, but it was just black and blue; there was space at the back of her mask to let her have a high ponytail.

"How come your suit's not just black?" asked Wally.

"I don't wanna look like Venom. You guys would worry too much if I was a villain or not," she answered.

"Hey, Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech," Wally pointed out that I was just wearing my normal outfit.

"No capes, no tights. No offense," said Superboy, feeling no sense of jealousy as he looked at the others, whom were all wearing their ridiculous looking costumes.

"Well, it totally works for you. In that you can totally do good work in those clothes," said M'gann, quickly turning away. Supes didn't know what type of feelings he had towards Miss M before, but he felt really nervous when he was around M'gann all of a sudden.

"Okay, now that we've all finished admiring our new fashion statements, can we just get this mission over and done with? All this is, is just coming and going. So can we do this properly?" snarked Kat. Supes thought she was just trying to sound smart for the Team's leadership role.

"Alright. Everyone, grab one," said Miss M, as she morphed hook-lines from the Bio-Ship's ceiling. "We'll be landing."

* * *

It was time for the Team to disembark from the ship. Brittany hooked herself to one of the lines and they all went through the bottom of the Bio-Ship. As they got to the safety of land, they quickly had to jump out of the way, so that Superboy could make a really big crater in the middle of the landing. He could be a real help sometimes, but most times, he was just a pain in the ass.

"See? Told you I didn't need a line," he said, as he balled his hands into fists, looking like he was just about ready to beat up a whole horde of bad guys.

"And yet, creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the 'covert' statistic of this mission," pointed out Robin. God, did he ever stop being such a smart-ass? Like, ever? Not once during a mission?

Just then, Brittany's spider-sene began tingling like crazy. She started to hear people talking. It was a big group of people, too.

"Did you hear that?" she asked everyone else, but Superboy seemed to have been the only one that heard it too.

"Yeah. It's coming from not far," he answered.

"Uh, I can't hear anything... wait! Is this a super-hearing thing?" asked Wally, becoming really energetic.

"You do have great ears," admired M'gann. Brittany could tell that the comment was meant for Superboy because she couldn't imagine Miss Martian trying to flirt with a 13 year old girl. That was just wrong, man.

"Okay, Rob, now what?" asked Wally, but then realized that Robin had disappeared. "Man, I hate it when it when he does that!"

"Don't worry. Everyone hates it when he does that. It's his only way to actually find out if he has a team full of stupid idiots. I know this because it's something to do with the leadership thing. I was gonna do it, but he did it first." Everyone started looking at Kat as if she had lost the plot. Being the Team's leader wasn't much of Brittany's concern, seeming that she had no clue about what they should do next.

And she definitely _didn't_ recommend voting Kat as being the Team's leader. Ever.

* * *

**WASHINGTON DC  
****JULY 22, 22:08 EST****  
**

"What the heck are you using to unfreeze him, scalpels? You don't understand, my family needs our father, whether his personal intentions is to be one or not. To be honest, he doesn't really get a choice in the matter." That was the nagging voice of Natasha. Natasha Summer.

She was busy arguing with Nick Fury whilst scientists and a few cryokinetic surgeons were slowly taking their time, as they were busy studying Steve Rogers's body. They had finally broken him out of the ice, but yet, were still running tests on him.

"Natasha, please, all we're asking you to do here at S.H.I.E.L.D. is to stay calm. We're speeding up the process as fast as we can, whilst also attempting to get his body temperature back to normal and get his heart rate at the right speed. Even so, it'll still be quite a few months until he'll wake up," explained Nick Fury, trying to put Tash's worries at ease.

Tash and Roy's fling the other night didn't make anything any better, either. She was still pissed that she couldn't move back to Coast City.

She sighed, as she let Fury's words sink in.

"Fine. But - you and S.H.I.E.L.D. have at until _at least _until the end of this month to put him in a hospital ward or something. Anything that involves him being let out of this godforsaken room." And at that, Tash walked out, and made her way to Mount Justice.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****JULY 23, 10:01 EDT****  
**

"Wow, how could you guys mess up a covert mission that badly?" asked Tash, as the Team awaited Batman's arrival.

"Shut up, Tash. You didn't even go. You were too busy with your new boyfriend, _Speedy the Home wrecker_," taunted Kat.

"At least I _have_ a boyfriend," snapped back Tash.

"Wait, you're actually being serious? You're going out with Roy? _Roy_, of all people?! The fuck kind of world is this?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Wait, wait. Natasha Harper... Roy Summer..." Kat then gasped in horror. "NO!"

"Kat, are you okay?" asked Joe, looking at Kat as if she was an absolute nutcase.

"Well, anywhore..." continued Tash. "Who's the new team leader, and - please don't say it's Kat. I depended on you guys to make a wise choice."

"We all voted on Aqualad. He's gonna get the blame, hehehe..." said Brittany, as she and Robin high-fived each other.

"Recognized; Batman - 02."

Batman walked into the scene, as everyone made one line, all facing Batman as they got ready for their lecture.

He started to berate the Team for the many failures that had occurred on the mission, but then congratulated them for their ability to adapt to a new plan and to have chosen a leader.

At the end of it, there was only one thing left to say, and it came from Kat,

"Without my help, you losers would still be on that island, but the only difference would be is that your insides would be sold to Europe."

And at that, everyone wanted to leave Kat alone, to suffer in her own mischievous, bitchy thoughts.

* * *

**Please do the following (my three R's): READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	8. Road Trip!

**Chapter 7: Road Trip!**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 3, 13:06 EDT****  
**

The rest of the Team (this time, including Tash) were in the Cave, watching Aqualad and Wally play digital air-hockey as Superboy arrived.

"Recognized; Superboy - B04."

"H-hi Superboy. How was Metropolis?" M'gann stuttered, as Wally won the game.

Superboy didn't bother answering and continued to walk off. Black Canary and Martian Manhunter entered the Cave.

"Ahem. Ready for training, anyone?" offered Black Canary.

"Black Canary. Uncle J'onn!" M'gann ran over to him and gave him a big hug.

He put his hand on her shoulder as he said, "M'gann, I was - in the neighborhood, so I thought I should see how you are adjusting."

"A few bumps, but... I'm learning," she said brightly.

"Well, that is all I can ask," he answered back.

Meanwhile, Black Canary stood in the middle of the center, eyeing Superboy as he had started to walk out.

"Stick around. Class is in session," said Black Canary, as everyone had formed a line facing her (except Superboy), but the only one who seemed to have been doing something other than listening was Wally, who busy eating a banana.

"I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. After what I've learned from my own mentors," she said, as she grunted, pulling off her jacket. "And my own bruises."

"What happened?" gasped M'gann in shock.

"The job," said Canary firmly. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. Now, I need a sparring partner."

At that, Wally reacted straight away to the offer. "Ooh yeah, right here. After this." He made a 'swish' noise as he threw away the banana peel. "I'll show you _my_ moves." Did he ever get tired of showing off so much?

As he sped up to Black Canary, he vastly blocked her move, but then didn't see the next sweep of her leg, knocking him down. "Oww. It hurts so good."

"Good block. But did anyone see what he did wrong?" continued Canary.

Robin called out, "Ooh, ooh. He hit on teacher and got served?" He and Kat high-fived each other, and started giggling.

"Dude!" said Wally, Kat earning most of his glare.

"He allowed me to dictate the terms of-" started Black Canary, but then Superboy cut her off.

"Oh, please. With _my_ powers, the battle's always on my terms. I'm a living weapon. And this is a waste of my time."

"Oh, shut up, Superboy. Keep your nostalgic uptight thoughts to yourself, 'cause no one wants to hear it. You can go shove it up someone else's-"

"Kat! He's alright, he just needs to come up the front and prove it _himself,_" challenged Canary, somehow still remaining calm even if she did have Kat and Superboy in her training class.

M'gann could tell just by looking at his face, that Superboy was actually trying to beat Black Canary. But sadly, he got beaten after a very quick kick to the gut, as he got knocked to the ground. She quickly gasped, as she hoped he wasn't badly hurt.

"You're angry; that's good. But now you need to channel that anger into-"

But then Superboy reacted and got knocked to the ground again. M'gann still got really worried.

"Calm down, M'gann, he's Superboy. It's not like he gonna die after _one_ spar with Canary," scoffed Kat, as Robin kept stifling his snickering, supposedly intended towards Superboy.

Superboy abruptly got up and said, "That's it. I'm done."

"Training is mandatory," explained Canary.

But just as Superboy was about to retort, the computer got an emergency message onscreen from Batman.

"Batman to the Cave. Five hours ago, a new menace had attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying and duplicating the power and abilities of its standing opponents. Arrow called in for reinforcements, which had been proved disastrous, as the android gained more and more power with each new combatant."

Everyone was watching the footage of the attacker fighting off members of the Justice League.

"Whoa..." muttered Wally in awe. "One guy with the powers of the _entire League?_"

"In the end," continued Batman. "It took _eight_ Leaguers _four hours_ to defeat and dismantle the android."

"An android?" asked Robin. "W-who made it? T.O. Morrow?"

"It's a good guess, Robin. But Red Tornado doesn't think so," informed Batman.

"The technology has the signature of... Professor Ivo," said Martian Manhunter.

"Ivo? But Ivo's dead," said Aqualad.

"So we all thought," said Black Canary. "Or hoped.

"What? Since when? What have I been missing this entire time?" asked Kat in disbelief.

"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R. Lab facilities located in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken.

"We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

Suddenly, Wally exclaimed, "Yes! Road-trip!"

"So now we take out your trash?" intervened Superboy.

"You had something better to do?" answered back Batman.

Batman sent the coordinates to their GPS.

"Coordinates received. We are on our way," said Aqualad, and that was the signal for the Team to get a move on.

As they all began to leave, M'gann distinctly heard Black Canary say to Superboy, "When you're ready, I'll be here."

She guessed that was a sort-of-interesting training lesson.

* * *

**LITCHFIELD COUNTY  
****AUGUST 3, 20:08 EDT****  
**

As soon as Batman gave the signal, the Team all rode their motorcycles to their given trucks.

Robin went with Spider-Girl, Superboy and Green Lantern Girl, whilst Aqualad, Miss Martian, Cat Girl and Havok went towards the other one.

They drove on after the trucks. Brittany and Tash were in front of Robin and Superboy; Robin slowed down so he was driving next to his fellow Kryptonian.

"Hey, if dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, if things are going wrong, they go right... uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong?" Robin asked him.

"Canary. And what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super-strength?" he answered.

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman - and, well - me."

Superboy angrily revved his engine and sped straight up behind the truck.

* * *

"Do you think Superboy's okay?" M'gann asked, as the five of them drove in a pentagonal formation behind the trucks, Aqualad in the lead. "I-I wasn't reading his mind, I swear, but anger flowed off him in waves."

"Pfft, I _surfed_ that wave. Just give him space. Me? Stick as close as you want," said Wally, driving right up close to Miss M.

Kat and Joe were driving side by side, as Kat scoffed, "Ew. Quick, Joe, say something annoying so I can get that crazy-ass image out of my head."

Aqualad calmly answered M'gann, "Superboy just needs time to cool off. A quiet mission will clear his head."

"Oh, thanks Captain Obvious," quipped Kat.

"Nobody asked you," Wally shot back.

"Well, I'm _sorry._ I can't help it if I'm right _here_."

Suddenly, some bizarre-looking robot-monkey things came out of nowhere, and attached themselves to their truck that they were following.

Aqualad spoke through his comm. "Robin! Superboy! GLG! Spider-Girl! Our truck is under attack!"

* * *

"Kinda figured," Robin answered to Aqualad.

There were monkeys all over their truck as well. And thing was, they weren't even real. Although if they _were_ real, Tash'd be even more worried than she already was.

She heard Superboy say, "I hate monkeys."

And that was when all shit got real.

* * *

**Three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER! (Sorry, you guys are probably really bothered that I keep on reminding you about them)**

**Happy Reading, guys! ;)**


	9. Everyone Hates Monkeys

**Chapter 8: Everyone Hates Monkeys**

Holy _crap_.

There were literally _robot monkeys_ attacking everyone.

"Robot monkeys!" laughed Robin. "Totally Ivo's tweak style."

"You don't say!" exclaimed Brittany.

"Oh, hey, hey, guys. Switch your rides into battle-mode," he advised, as he switched his motorcycle, watching as it disassembled itself. Brittany and Tash did the same, but Superboy...

"No point." Yep. Of course Supes was gonna say that. He then jumped up on top of the truck like a madman.

"Or not!" finished Robin.

Rob jumped on to the truck and abruptly kicked a monkey in the face. Superboy took off his helmet and whacked a monkey aside, breaking it into bits. Then he started breaking all the little monkeys apart, one by one.

Tash and Britt however, were busy trying to fend off the monkeys on the side of the truck. Sheesh, those boys were slow.

Brittany climbed on top of the roof to where Superboy was, to watch Superboy get his eyes lasered by one of the monkeys. Boy, he got pissed. The momentum of the truck had made Superboy fall off onto the road.

Then of course, he managed jump all the way back. Because he was Superboy.

* * *

Aqualad made the first attack on the chimps. Bad move, Aqualad. He just flicked them onto the _lazy gang_.

"Oh my god, Aqualad! Imma kill you after thi-" started Kat, but she quickly screamed like a little girl. "Joe, get it off! It's in my hair!" Of course. The outrageous, fabulous and most 'silent' protégé yelled out for help. Again.

"Ew, no. Go deal with it yourself, bitch." Man, that guy should've won a frickin' gold medal, 'cause the look on Kat's face was priceless.

Wally would've stopped and laughed at her, but duty called and he had some robot monkeys to piss off.

He sped up and ran along the truck, as he kicked all the monkeys away, watching them get crushed under the wheels.

He swung his way up on top of the truck, and as he went up there, he saw that Miss Martian had not two - but _six_ arms. And the craziest part was, he didn't know whether he should've been turned on or not.

But then, one of the worst things happened: the android's parts got stolen by a another pair of robotic monkeys. Wally was just planning on blaming it all on Kat, because she always blamed him for stupid crap he didn't even do.

* * *

Tash was busy fighting off monkeys that were making their way to the tyres of the truck, when Superboy had 'accidentally' knocked her off of the truck and got thrown onto the road. Frickin' thick-headed Kryptionians. They never knew when to stop being dicks to their teammates.

Thanks to Superboy 'accidentally' knocking Tash off the side, the monkeys had gotten to the tyres and made them flat with their 'cute little laser eyes'. Luckily, Tash's back-up motorcycle was part of her power ring. Without that, she just a girl with Super Soldier serum in her DNA.

Still could've been a superhero, right?

Anywhore, Tash sped up to the truck on her make-shift motorcycle to hear Robin say to the driver, "Get out!" And they both went flying sideways into the fields, as the truck flipped over on its side and started tumbling over, multiple times with Superboy still hanging on.

The truck stopped flipping out as the monkeys blasted a whole through the door of the truck and took the android's body parts. Oh, shit. They couldn't even keep frickin' bionic chimpanzees from stealing parts of a robot. They had _officially_ hit an all time low.

Robin came out from the field, holding an unconscious guard and let him fall onto the road.

Tash heard Superboy flip the truck over and get up from the remains. And of course, what does a thick-headed Kryptonian do? He went after the monkeys and left the Team behind to make them do all the work.

"Superboy!" Robin called after him.

* * *

Robin watched as Superboy went carefree after the monkeys. Aqualad spoke to Rob through his comm.

"Aqualad to Robin. Lost our cargo. Did y-"

The Boy Wonder sighed. "It's gone. And so is our teammate."

"Oh, _great_. Our strongest team member just has to go on and make it difficult for us to complete the mission," said Brittany.

"Oh, I'm not surprised. He's Kryptonian. He doesn't know any better," said Tash, mocking her worry for Superboy.

* * *

"Aqualad to Superboy. Radio your place. We'll help you," spoke Aqualad through to Superboy's comm.

"I don't need help! Don't want any!" And at that, all Aqualad got was silence.

"Superboy!" He spoke, but he got no answer.

"I think he ditched his comm," suggested Robin.

"Su-per! Now we can't even track _him,_" complained Wally.

M'gann then attempted to read his mind. "... he's out of my telepathic range. If this Professor Ivo, if he is alive; he seemed to be two steps ahead of us... maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"

"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves," answered Aqualad. "And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled."

"Well, that's a _great_ plan... except for the part about us not knowing _where to look!_" shouted Wally.

Just then, Joe and Kat got our of the truck wreckage and Kat was always the first one to strike.

"And YOU! This is _all your fault!_" Or not. Because this time, it was Wally.

Kat scoffed at his accusation. "_My_ fault? How was this _my_ fault? I didn't do anything!"

"Exactly! You didn't do anything! That was _your_ fault!" argued Wally.

"Hey! Back off my sister, cheetah girl-" started Joe, but the nonsense just had to stop.

"Enough! Can you guys just please, stop fighting for once? It would be doing us all a very good favor!" shouted Aqualad. Hm... that seemed to shut them up.

"Anyway, what were you going to say, Robin?"

"I was gonna say, 'or maybe not', but I just really wanted to hear Kat and Wally fight, so... yeah. Or maybe not," answered Robin.

* * *

Robin and Brittany went over to one of the broken monkeys on the road and Britt watched as Robin connected his tech into the monkey's hard drive.

"We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks got attacked. So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?" asked Robin, as Britt scrunched his her nose in thought.

A map showed up on Robin's tech.

"Ha! The parts have GPS! The monkeys can track the signal; which means I can track them with the one I captured," he looked over at his fellow spidey with that mischievous grin on his face. "Looks like both sides are converging on..." he then looked back at her with a troubled look on his face. She knew that meant trouble, because he answered, "Gotham City."

"That far south? M'gann, Joe, Kat and I won't get there anytime soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out," Brittany could hear Kaldur answer.

She could tell that Wally could only be speeding up to them at the time.

"You guys coming, or you gonna stay until the others come? KF's on his way. I don't know about you, but if the parts are heading to Gotham, then I'm leaving ASAP," said Robin, with the broken monkey slung over his shoulder.

"Brittany, go with Robin. I'll need to collect some data for S.H.I.E.L.D. from the remains of the other destroyed monkeys. Fury's decided to help with the Ivo situation and his rise from the dead. I'll wait for Kaldur and the rest to get here," offered Tash, but Brittany didn't know what she was trying to do. Purposefully putting her and Robin together? She sighed. It's complicated enough just thinking about what type of friendship she and him had.

"But, Tash-"

"Go. I'm in the middle of nowhere. It's not like Jeepers Creepers is gonna come snatch me from a field of corn," answered Tash.

"Alrighty, then," said Robin, as he activated his (now miniature) motorcycle as they both walk towards Brittany's. "Definitely a disaster. Heavy on the 'dis'."

* * *

**Don't forget my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER! **

**Take care, and Happy Reading guys! ;)**


	10. Nobody Controls Superboy

**Chapter 9: Nobody Controls Superboy**

The ride along the highway was mostly silent, maybe except for one or two shots at making a conversation, but Brittany didn't make the task at hand get out of Robin's head. If it was _her_ city that was gonna get attacked by Ivo's robot monkeys, then she would stay pretty grim too.

After about 45 minutes of driving, Wally came up to the pair and sped alongside.

"Huh. You changed too?" asked Robin, being the first one to speak.

"You kidding?" answered Wally, making a grossed out noise. "Ugh, I feel naked in civvies. You still tracking the parts?"

"They were heading through Gotham, but they veered. Wait! Dude, they're at my school!" explained Robin, his voice in shock.

Frankly, Brittany was in shock too. "Hehe. I wonder how many award trophies I'll see get burned."

"Haha, very funny. But what if _your_ school was gonna get attacked by Ivo and his monkeys, how many trophies of yours would be destroyed?"

"About 12. From my old school, of course. But from Happy Harbor... that's still a mystery," answered Brittany.

* * *

That AMAZO guy literally just threw Superboy at a trophy cabinet. At a school. Yeah, yeah, so Supes couldn't possibly be more banged up than he already was in the head. Hey, he was still learning, right? But his objective for now was: destroy AMAZO before he destroyed Gotham.

AMAZO threw him into a wall of lockers, leaving a crater of broken locker doors and loose text book papers. What Supes then spotted, was what happened to be a girl's locker door with a poster of Superman and love hearts around him. Superboy quickly punched it. Because he could.

He threw a staggering punch at AMAZO but he just kept hitting him back and he went through another classroom. Supes made an attempt at taunting him.

"That... all you got?" he challenged weakly.

AMAZO did another superhero change over. "Access; Captain Atom." And his hand started to light up with white, atomic power and blasted the Kryptonian through the laboratory wall, crashing into the gymnasium. He just had too much power.

Superboy heard somebody slowly clapping to their amusement in the stands: it was Professor Ivo and sitting on either side of him were two of his robotic monkeys.

"I don't usually attend these things in person but," he giggled with his stupid laugh. "This was too good to miss."

Supes saw AMAZO approaching him, as he struggled to get up. The android then said, "Access; Superman."

Superboy and the robot had a one-on-one battle, each of them throwing one punch after the other. He could feel the coldness of his metal fists trying to fight their way through his body, but he was Kryptonian. His skin was fairly thick compared to a normal human being. But yet again, he was fighting a robot with all the powers of the Justice League-

"Yoink!" Before the Team member was about to get pummeled by AMAZO, a blur of red and yellow seized him from the attack. It was Kid Flash.

* * *

KF quickly grabbed Superboy from AMAZO's reach, as he ran up to Robin and Spider-Girl. Robin swiftly threw a batarang at the robot.

Well, _that_ was a waste of a good weapon because it just went straight through when AMAZO said, "Access; Martian Manhunter." The batarang went flying through AMAZO's figure and exploded into the back wall.

Apparently, AMAZO wanted more. "Access; Red Tornado." And he flew into the air, supported by... yep, you guessed it: a red tornado.

He charged at them with his tornado. Robin and Superboy went flying backwards whilst KF and Brittany went flying the other way. He crashed into a wall as Brittany slung a string of web at AMAZO and attempted to stick to the opposite wall. But she went flying too.

KF got up as soon as he got thrown to the wall when AMAZO had accessed Captain Atom. He merely missed a blast of atomic energy when he sped underneath the stands of the gym and came out the other side of it, running toward AMAZO, but he just had to keep on going, "Access; Black Canary."

And he, suppose you could say 'sung' a sonic powered ray of what you could call, a 'Canary Cry'. KF got thrown back and couldn't watch what was gonna happen to Superboy.

* * *

Superbpy quickly got up from the stands that he and Robin crashed into and tried again to punch AMAZO in the face, but he blocked it with one hand and acceded Superman _again_. H got punched again and thrown into the stands... again.

* * *

"Access; Martian Manhunter." Jeez, that guy never stopped. Robin threw two batarangs at him, but his arm mechanically stretched out and blocked them, watching the mini explosions.

He stretched his arm out again, but this time it was much longer, and Rob dodged it, because honestly, that would've been a really dumb and careless way to die.

Robin quickly spotted Brittany on the other side of the gym, as she gave him the signal that she was still conscious.

He watched AMAZO as Wally quickly sped up to him, but he was too late and AMAZO had started trying to squeeze the life out of him.

And then one part happened all so quickly: as Wally was about to get squished to his death, a random arrow came out of nowhere and was about to hit AMAZO, but he accessed back into Martian Manhunter and the arrow and Wally went through him.

The arrow had landed beside me and the feathers on it... were _green_. And Robin thought Batman had trusted them.

* * *

Man, Brittany felt like the weakest one there. She watched as Wally sped past the robot and grabbed me, whilst AMAZO accessed Black Canary and punched Superboy. God, this robot must've really hated him.

Robin attempted at throwing batarangs again, but AMAZO accessed Superman and lasered them to ashes.

As Wally sped past Robin,Britt didn't know how, but he was too slow and AMAZO tried to fry the three of them with Superman's laser vision, but missed by inches. They ended up crashing to the ground, tumbling over each other.

* * *

That. Was. It. Superboy was sick and tired of being thrown around by a frickin' robot, who seemed to be full of absolute bullcrap, even though he had no brain.

Supes closed his eyes in concentration, and opened them again as he started to see things more clearer than before. He then ordered AMAZO, "Access; Black Canary."

Ivo, who was still sitting in the opposite stands, complained, "Oh, yawn. Normally AMAZO would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what's the point. You're all such poor copies of the originals." His monkeys start laughing at his remark.

"So everyone keeps saying," Superboy answered back. "IT MAKES ME ANGRY!"

He jumped up from the stands and landed where Ivo quickly escaped from.

"WANNA SEE ME CHANNEL THAT ANGER!?" He yelled at Ivo.

* * *

Robin, Wally and Brittany had gotten up and were watching Superboy. Uh-oh. That was never good.

"Great! He's gone ballistic again," groaned Wally.

"... maybe not," said Robin. Oh, brother. What was he gonna get up to this time?

"What do you mean? Superboy's a frickin' nutcase when he's mad! Not even Antarctica can cool him down at this rate!" exclaimed Brittany.

* * *

"AMAZO, protect your master... Priority Alpha!" ordered Ivo, as he leaped out of Superboy's reach.

Supes got attacked by AMAZO as he accessed Captain Atom and shot a blast of energy at me.

He then heard Robin say, "Anyone wanna play Keep-away? Hiya!" and he kicked Ivo and his monkeys.

"Ooh, ooh! Me, me!" volunteered Wally, as he sped past AMAZO. The robot had accessed Superman. He did a super-stomp on the ground and made Wally go off-course, flying into the air.

"Ooh, me too!" said Brittany, swinging down from the ceiling, kicking AMAZO and webbing his face... but, he was just too strong for her and Brittany got thrown aside.

AMAZO had accessed Martian Manhunter again and that was when Superboy got up, and put his fist through where his head was. He became a solid figure again, but this time; his fist was through his face. His head exploded everywhere, throwing me back.

What used to be AMAZO fell backwards onto the floor, when Robin quickly ran over to him. "Help me disassemble him, now!"

"Dude, the guy has no head," answered Wally, clutching what must have been a sore left arm.

Suddenly, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Green Lantern Girl, Cat Girl and Havok 2.0 came running into the gymnasium.

"Don't take any chances!" ordered Aqualad.

M'gann then flew over to Supes, helping him up. "Superboy, are you alright?"

"Fine," he said, giving her an assuring small smile. "Feeling the aster," he looked over at Robin.

"Come on, princess. Get up," said Joe, as he helped up his little sister from the AMAZO rubble.

"Hey! Where's Ivo?" asked Wally.

And that was one question they knew they couldn't answer.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 4, 01:06 EDT****  
**

"The AMAZO android is in pieces again. Safely being analyzed at the two separate S.T.A.R Labs. But Ivo escaped and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android," Aqualad explained to Batman.

"Capturing the professor would be a League priority," said Black Canary.

"But we understand that your mission encountered... other complications," inferred Martian Manhunter.

The rest of the Team shared a look before Batman stepped forward.

"Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League," said Batman.

"The _whole_, League?" asked Superboy. Tash was guessing it was a Kryptonian thing to ask questions about their fathers (pfft, because _she_ could talk).

"Given time, yes. Kryptonians as you know, have very hard heads," insured Batman.

"_Very_, hard heads," agreed Tash, but Black Canary gave her a look that said 'now's not the time'.

"Of course, there's no shame in asking for help; that's why the League exists. Because there are some problems that we can't handle individually," continued Batman.

"_Please_. If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask," intervened Robin. He then pulled out an arrow. A _green_ arrow.

"Look familiar?" he handed it to Batman, as Red Tornado and Green Arrow stepped behind Batman.

"You were following us! Babysitting - you still don't trust us!"

Green Arrow took the arrow and took out one of his own. The two were still green but were different if put in comparison.

"We didn't follow you," Batman corrected Robin. Tash could tell the little twerp didn't like being wrong against his mentor.

"And that's not your arrow," quipped Robin. "But that means-"

"Speedy!" said Wally. Oh, great. Let the praising of Tash's boyfriend begin.

"He has our backs," followed Aqualad.

Wally rushed up to Green Arrow and snatched the arrow out of his hand. "Souvenir!"

No way. Roy's arrows were _red_, not green. _What a bunch of idiots_, Tash thought. _But sure, I guess he still had our backs_.

Superboy walked up to Black Canary. Oh, dear lord, of course; the whole training thing. Tash was starting to think he had a bit of a thing for Canary.

"I'm ready."

"Good. Because I'm here," she answered.

* * *

**Whoa, I did a lot of switching from POV's in this chapter! (sorry...)**

**My three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading guys! ;)**


	11. It's RED ARROW

**Chapter 10: It's RED ARROW**

**INFINITY ISLAND  
****AUGUST 7, 23:49 ECT****  
**

It was a very late evening at Infinity Island, until something had disturbed its silence. A sly, red and black shadow was running across a bridge towards the League of Shadow's facility walls and shot an electronic arrow at a standing guard, electrifying him. It was of course, Roy Harper.

He shot another arrow, this time he was running past the facilities barriers. He had shot a grappling hook arrow, which implanted itself onto the landing.

Climbing up the walls of the foreign facility, Roy ran behind a wall, nocking an arrow to his bow string, stretching it not as much as he was evaluating where to aim. He shot it next to the nearby security camera, hacking the surveillance area, making it reset to how it was before; empty with no moving figure.

He shot more electronic arrows at two guards, watching them fall to the ground. As he made his way to the room he wanted to go, he waited outside and knocked on the cell door, waiting for a guard to move in front of it, as he kicked it down, on top of the guard.

He quickly fought the other guard, attacking with his bow and punched him. He started to make his way to the opposite wall, passing the 'prisoner' on his way.

"Dr. Roquette," he said curtly, walking past.

She sighed, almost in disappointment and hope. "Tell me you're the advanced guy."

"The only guy," said Roy, taking an arrow from his quiver.

"You couldn't bring back up? What? Were there budget cuts?!" she snapped.

Suddenly, an alarm started ringing throughout the facility and hordes of guards were making their way towards the room.

Roy shot an explosive arrow at the wall.

"Now or never time, Doc."

"We can't leave this," she said hopelessly.

"Look: I take _it_, or I take _you,_" he said forcefully.

"Right," she decided reluctantly, taking her glasses off. "Take me."

Roy quickly shot a zip line arrow as it connected to a palm tree near the beach.

"Hang on!" he exclaimed, as he and the doctor descended down the line and made their way to a boat covered in a camouflage cover.

The two of them ran over to it, throwing off the cover and Dr. Roquette jumped into it as Roy pushed it offshore. He hastily jumped in as the doctor remarked, "So what do you call this; the Arrow-Boat?"

"I call it: a rental. Now, get down!" he ordered, as she ducked down low as the guards shot bullets after them.

Roy sped up the boat's engine, taking off under heavy fire and set off explosives to cover their escape.

As they got further away from the island, Roy told the doctor, "I think we're in the clear."

"Great. Which only leaves one problem," answered Roquette.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 8, 09:58 EDT****  
**

It was a very sunny day at the beach, down from the Cave as the Team (excluding Wally) ran down in their bathing suits; Miss Martian being the first one to show much enthusiasm about it.

"_Hello,_ Megan! We should hit the beach everyday!" she exclaimed cheerfully, holding a body-board and ran out to the shore.

"First, a moment of silence for our... absent comrade," said Robin, putting his head down in sadness.

"Poor Wally," said Miss M, also putting her head down.

"Ha, sucka..." said Kat under her breath, as she and Joe silently giggled.

* * *

**CENTRAL CITY  
****AUGUST 8, 09:00 CDT****  
**

This was basically all that happened: Wally sucked at being a sophomore in high school.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 8, 18:32 EDT****  
**

"Recognized; Kid Flash - B03."

Poor Wally. He entered the Cave's HQ carrying all sorts of beach equipment with him, just to fall on his face and embarrass himself in front of the Team and their newbie.

"The Wal-Man is here! Let's get this party star-" He tripped. Oh, and the beach ball he was carrying bounced right past Batman and Red Tornado. Unlucky.

"-ted." he finished, looking up from the ground and realized that the rest of the Team weren't in their swimming gear. Well... if you counted Aqualad... nah.

"Wal-Man, huh? Wow, love the uniform. What exactly, are your powers?" The new girl teased.

"Uh, who's this?" That was his answer. What a douche.

Kat mockingly scoffed at his remark. "Wally, you're so _rude_."

"Artemis. Your new teammate," the new girl replied said.

"Kid Flash. Never heard of you," he said quickly.

Green Arrow stepped forward. "Um, she's my new protégé," he explained, as Tash gave him a disapproving look; yet she still didn't seem to mind that Artemis was here instead of her man-candy.

"Well, what happened to your old one?" asked Wally.

And as if right on cue, the computer said, "Recognized; Speedy - B06."

"Well, for starters, he doesn't go by _Speedy_ anymore. Call me Red Arrow." He couldn't have picked anything less generic.

Silently, GA asked Tash, "Did you know about this?"

"Yep," she replied quickly; Green Arrow looking up at Roy.

"Roy - You look-"

"Replaceable," he answered. _Honestly, why my sister is dating this asshole, I had no clue, _thought Kat. _Although, he is kinda hunky... NO! Snap out of it, Kat._

"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo."

"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even _use_ that bow?" _See? Asshole._

Artemis walked up to him and declared, "Yes, she can."

"Who are you?" asked Wally again. God, did he never listen? Kat calling him douche-face from now on.

"She's my niece."

"I'm his niece," they both said simultaneously.

"Another niece?" smirked Robin. _Ugh, gag. I also don't see why Britt was being all giddy about seeing Robin with no shirt on at the beach. He has skimpy little arms! How is that attractive?_ thought Kat.

"But she is not your replacement," said Aqualad, forwarding to Roy. "We have always wanted you on the Team. And we have no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick," answered Wally, quickly looking over at Tash and then back again.

"Whatever, Baywatch. I'm here to stay," sassed Artemis. If this chick started coming up with better comebacks than Kat, she was _not_ gonna be so friendly anymore.

"You came to us for a reason," said Aqualad, turning to Roy.

"Yeah. A reason named Dr. Serling Roquette," informed Roy. Tash stepped beside him and said something so only he could hear. _Um... now's really not the time to be telling each other dirty whispers, especially in front of Batman. That is a terrible idea, _thought Kat.

Robin's face quickly lit up as he used the HQ's holo-computer. "Nanorobotic's genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City. Vanished two weeks ago."

"_Abducted_ two weeks ago," corrected Red Arrow, "by the League of Shadows."

"Whoa... you want us to rescue her from the Shadows?" exclaimed Robin in awe.

"Hardcore..." Wally fist-bumped Robin.

"He already rescued her," interrupted Tash. _Damn it. I wanted to go beat up some League of Shadow's ass,_ thought Kat.

"Only one problem," continued Roy. "The Shadows have already cohearsed her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it 'The Fog'. Comprised of millions of microscopic robots.

"Nanotech infiltrators. Capable of disintegrating anything in their path; concrete, steel, flesh, bone.

"But it's true purpose isn't mere destruction: it's theft. The infiltrators even store raw data from any computer system. And deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows.

"Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense and cutting-edge science and tech," he finished. Sheesh, he should've gotten a job as a frickin' teacher.

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power-evoking... yeah, sounds like the Shadows," bragged Artemis.

"Like _you_ know anything about the shadows," challenged Wally. But, all Artemis did was give him a 'haha, I beat you. Suck on that' look, as he fired back, _"Who are you?!"_

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the fog inert," said Roy.

"But if the Shadows know she can do that-" started Robin.

"They'll target her. Right now, she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."

"You left her alone?"asked GA, as Tash quickly looked up at Roy, both of them exchanging looks and looking back at Green Arrow.

"She's safe enough for now."

"Then let's you and I keep her that way."

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?" _Oh my god, he needed to stop being such an asshole!_ thought Kat. She really did not like Roy.

GA stepped towards Roy, but Batman put a hand on his shoulder, signalling him to leave it.

GA gave up. "You brought this to the Team. It's their mission, which means it's hers now too," GA gestured toward Artemis.

Roy makes a dismissing 'tseh' sound and said, "Then my job's done."

He started to walk out, leaving the rest of us; including Tash standing there.

"Recognized; Speedy-"

"That's _Red Arrow_ \- B06. Update," and then he left. And to think, that he was gonna be the Summer siblings' future brother-in-law_. _

_[Tash could do better]_. Kat thought, but a little more outwardly... and with an unexpected mind in the mix.

_[Kat, I heard that]._

It was Miss Martian... reading her mind.

"Stop reading my mind, M'gann! I thought we've all been through this already."

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I promise it won't happen again-"

"Whatever. It doesn't matter," said Kat, waving it off. Sometimes Kat liked to think that she over-exaggerated things. It was in my blood. Which reminded her...

"Oh my god!" It seemed like Tash remembered, too.

"What? Why? What's happening?" Apparently, Joe and Brittany didn't know.

"Dad's getting unfrozen tomorrow!" exclaimed Kat before Tash had the chance to say anything more.

"_What?_" questioned Brittany, looking completely dumbfounded.

"If we succeed with this mission, Fury said we might be able to see him early tomorrow," said Tash.

The rest of the Team (except for Artemis. She didn't know that the Summer kids were actually Captain America's kids) congratulated them before the Team went to do their mission at Happy Harbor.

"Oh, I better go after Roy, then. I'll see you tomorrow!" And Tash left.

Kat couldn't wait to see the look on her dad's face when he found out that Tash was dating a non-anger manageable control freak.

* * *

**I realized that this is 2010, and Captain America got unfrozen in 2011, so... yeah, I had to change a few things around. :s**

**Don't forget about my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	12. Telepathic Conversations

**Chapter 11: Telepathic Conversations**

**HAPPY HARBOR  
****AUGUST 8, 21:53 EDT****  
**

Red Arrow had put Dr. Roquette in one of the school's computer labs, and now the Team had to patrol at the Summer's future school.

Miss Martian's voice suddenly popped into everyone's head.

_[Everyone online?]_

Brittany was in one of the school's computer labs with Dr. Roquette, Artemis, Robin, Wally and Kat.

_[Ugh. This feels weird.] _thought Artemis, as she took in her surroundings and realized she wasn't speaking.

_[And distracting. Coding a distributed algorithm virus on a kiddy computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now, I have to hear teens think in my skull?] _complained Roquette, all in one go, as she put her head in her hands out of frustration.

_[Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?] _thought Wally, munching on a protein bar.

_[Hey, dude, can I have some?] _thought Kat, as Wally threw her a piece. Kat caught it, not wanting to drop a 'valuable' piece of food on the floor.

_[Pot. Kettle. Have you met?]_ retaliated Artemis.

_[Hey! I do not need attitude from the newbie who drew Red Arrow off the Team.]_ argued Wally.

_[That is so not on me!]_

_[Hey... guys... I think I just found the new Kat and Wally, hehehe...]_ Brittany joined in.

_[Fate. Of the world. At stake!] _interrupted Roquette. Sheesh, she was such a pushy lady.

_[She started it!]_ thought KF.

_[Gee, like we've never heard _that_ one before, Walnut.]_ thought Kat.

_[Did you just call me Walnut?]_

_[Yeah, totally. Why not?]_

_[How about I just go and help Miss Martian, Havok and Superboy patrol the perimeter?]_ thought Artemis, as she made her way out.

_[Good idea.]_ thought Aqualad sternly, as she passed him.

When Artemis had left, Brittany guessed it was time for Robin, Kat and Wally's bitch session, even though everyone could hear them think.

_[You might cut her some slack. It was her arrow that saved your butt against AMAZO.] _thought Robin, trying to sound helpful.

_[W-what? That was Speedy's- I mean that was Red Arrow's- arrow. Right?] _thought Wally quickly.

_[Not so much.]_

_[Hmph. Well - still not giving her the satisfaction.]_

_[You know, I can _still_ hear you.]_ answered Artemis, as Wally mentally slapped himself in the face.

* * *

_[Couldn't get the Justice League.]_ piped up Roquette, as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

_[Why would you want the Justice League? They're too mainstream.]_ thought Kat. No one else could think of anything else to help make her feel at least half decent.

_[Because the Justice League's great. And you're not.]_ answered Brittany.

_[Hey, no one asked you.]_

_[I know no one asked me, idiot.]_

_[You're the idiot!]_

_[Kat, the only idiot in this room, is you. Or Wally. It depends.]_

_[Guys, be quiet!]_ It was Aqualad._ [The virus won't be of much use. We cannot find the weapon. Can you track it?]_

_[My utility fog, is not a weapon. It's science. Brilliant science. And of course I can track it. But I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and 'Assassinate Me!' written in neon.]_ Dr. Roquette complained again with one of her boring lectures. Kat thought she joined the Team so that she could take a break from school.

_[Doctor, no offense but that kinda sounds like a terrible idea.]_ thought Kat.

Aqualad then put a hand on her shoulder and thought, _[We will protect you.]_

Roquette then did something to the computer and thought, _[Tracking fog now.]_

_[God, this is boring as hell. I'm going outside. At least I get some entertainment from annoying my sist- I mean brother. Whoops.]_ thought Kat, as Joe intervened, _[I heard that!]_

_[You were supposed to.]_ thought Kat, walking out towards the perimeter.

_[Ha! Would you like some ice for that burn?]_ Of course Brittany thought that. After all, she was related to Katrina.

Kat heard a couple of birds chirping and some rustling in the bushes. What? She was Cat Girl. She could have several super-senses, too. Plus, she had Super Soldier serum in her blood. Wa-bam.

She and Supes went over to the right side of the building to go and check out the noise. Superboy may have been muscly and hot and everything, but he was still a dumbass.

Then out of where, Artemis thought,_ [Mm... that boy.]_

Superboy sharply turned around and looked over at Artemis, M'gann and Joe. Honestly, if Kat didn't know who he was, she would've thought it was _him_ who just complimented Superboy.

_[Stop looking Joe. I thought you were straight.]_ teased Kat.

_[What the fuck, Kat?]_ answered Joe angrily.

_[What? I'm just stating a fact.]_

_[He can hear you. We can all hear you.] _interrupted Miss M, which was mostly forwarded to Artemis.

_[Oh... I know.]_ snarked Artemis.

_[Girl knows how I roll. And you guys have been with me for longer than she has.]_ thought Kat, as Supes went off and investigated what they heard.

Aqualad interrupted their thoughts. _[Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the fog. Reconfigure the Bio-Ship so that Robin, Cat Girl and Superboy can pursue.]_

_[I'd love to stay and chat guys, but I need to kick some foggy butt - okay, wait, that sounded so wrong in my head.] _thought Kat, realizing her stuff up.

_[Um, I don't know how that sounds wrong.] _Oh, Brittany. She was still such a young and naïve soul.

_[You're better off not knowing what goes on in my head the whole time, Britt.]_

_[Honestly, I don't want to know what happens in your head.]_

Miss M summoned the Bio-Ship and Kat, Robin and Supey Boy climbed aboard.

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you for the reviews, I feel loved! ... :P I also hope that you never, ever forget these three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	13. More Telepathic Conversations

**Chapter 12: More Telepathic Conversations**

As Kat, Robin and Superboy flew away in the Bio-Ship, Brittany, Aqualad and Wally stayed inside whilst Joe, Miss Martian and Artemis patrolled the perimeter.

The annoyed tension between M'gann and Artemis was quickly reaching a level of 9/10.

_[You embarrassed Superboy.] _started M'gann.

_[Didn't hear him say that.]_ answered Artemis.

_[Must you challenge everyone?]_ As M'gann continued their little girl argument, Joe quickly spotted a dark figure jump over the school's tall fence.

_[Where I come from, that's how you survive.] _thought Artemis. Joe decided he needed to investigate what that shadowed figure was.

He made his way towards the building when Artemis asked, _[Hey, where are you going?]_

_[You guys - uh, girls - stay here and keep patrolling the perimeter. I just gotta go check something.]_ thought Joe, as he hastily searched for words to say in his mind.

_[Okay. As long as you know what you're doing. I know you. You're Kat's twin, don't think I don't know what sort of trouble you get up to.] _called out M'gann, as Joe entered one of the school's hallways.

Joe walked down further, as he saw Wally standing outside of the computer lab's door. The speedster didn't seem to be aware of the shadow that had passed down the hallway to his right.

_[Dude, there's something in the building that's not human! ..._ _or__ Miss Martian. C'mon!] _And the two boys ran towards the mysterious shadow.

Joe let Wally speed towards it (as that was his usual thing to do and Joe just assumed that he knew what he was doing), but as he ran through the pool doors, he tripped over - and got kicked in the face by the shadow figure.

"Hey, ninja-chick. Nobody hurts my friends unless it's something bad from my sister okay?" scowled Joe, as he slowly walked towards her. That turned out to be a big mistake.

She quickly kicked Joe from under his legs and punched him in the face, making him lose focus. She quickly made an escape out the doors, leaving Wally unconscious and Joe with a blurry vision. He was slowly beginning to experience what Cyclops felt like everyday. Miss Martian flew in and said that the shadow person had attacked her and Artemis. Aqualad was still in the computer lab with Dr. Roquette, assumingly fighting the bad guys with Artemis.

Joe started to get the feeling that he was forgetting something... he gasped as he quickly realized: he had completely forgotten about Brittany!

He immediately felt like such an ignoramus. She could've been anywhere as far as Joe was concerned.

He ran around the main hallways (M'gann was giving Wally resuscitation) calling out his sister's name. "Brittany! Britt! Where the-" He then heard a small muffled voice coming one of the History classrooms.

Joe ran inside and opened the door to find Brittany stuck to one of the walls bound by her own webs. Her mouth was gagged with the stuff too; that must've taste frickin' _gross_.

Anywhore, Joe tried talking to her. "Brittany! How did you get here? Who did this to you?" But he realized it was no use asking her questions when she couldn't answer.

She started to get annoyed with his attempts at impossible conversation, so she motioned towards her right-hand web-shooter.

"What I do with it?" Joe unclasped the metal contraption from her wrist.

He couldn't tell what type of face she was giving him underneath that mask, but he could tell just by looking at her actions, it meant 'Are you being frickin' serious right now?' He then remembered her telling him once that she always kept a sharp pocket knife attachment to her right-hand web-shooter, so that she could cut away any unwanted webs in case things like that ever happened.

Brittany gave Joe the action of feeling relieved that he knew her special type of sign language. Joe un-clipped the pocket knife from the shooter and cut all of the webbing off. When all the webbing was detached from her, she fell to the floor, gasping for air.

"Oh my god, there was this freaky looking shadow-person-thing and they put up a fight. I got tangled in my own web, then you came to find me. And obviously, due to your poor understanding of my actions for when I need help, I almost lost consciousness," she explained between breaths.

"It's okay. Everything should be under control... for now," Joe tried to reassure her, as she picked off the last piece of web.

They both heard a stern yet panicky voice in their heads._ [Joe! Brittany! Where are you? Are you alright?]_ Of course, it was Aqualad.

_[Yeah, we're alright Fishstick. Little Miss Muffet here just got tangled in her own mess.]_ answered Joe, as Brittany punched him in the arm.

"Ow," he said in a bored tone. She had really small punches. It was like a five year old was trying to pick a fight. "You have bony knuckles."

"Oh, yeah? Well yours look pretty fat to me!" she fired back. Yep, she definitely was related to Joe if she came up _that_ comeback.

The two siblings walked out of the classroom, making their way back to the computer lab. Joe looked over at his little sister and actually realized for the time, how small she was.

"Wow, you really _are_ my little sister."

"I wish you'd stop calling me 'little' all the time. I know it may be true, but it pisses me off!"

"Big words for a small person." Brittany was about to hit him again, but he retaliated with, "Hey, if you hit me again, I'll tell Tash."

Wow, he was so threatening.

"What's she gonna do about it, huh? She's not a mother. Heck, we don't even know who _ours_ is!"

"Well, then I'll tell Kat." Woohoo. Genius Joe strikes again.

"Kat's not gonna do anything about it either. She doesn't care about anything; the only person that she cares is herself. And that's a fact." She was right. It was a fact.

"Listen; I know that you're only 13 and you're only trying to figure out how teenage-hood works, but I think you may be on PMS." They both stopped in their tracks. Joe knew he must've crossed a line or something because she went rage.

"Excuse me?! Who said that you could judge my attitude, huh? Who said that you could be a douche bag, huh? You wanna piece of this, hm-" She challenged, getting all up in his grill. "Come at me, bro!"

"Uh, how about no..." said Joe, pulling her arms down from making anymore gangster gestures. "Let's just continue with the task at hand," he decided, trying to calm her down. She was like a little wasp when she got mad. It was so cute, like a little fuzzy bumblebee buzzing and a little baby unicorn.

They both started running towards the computer lab to see that there were villains in the room other than the shadow figure. There was a guy who was dressed up in black and was crawling on the ceiling: that was Brittany's job to take of, and there was a guy with a metal claw and chain attached to his hand: that could be Miss Martian's job.

It was time to bring out Joe's laser beam.

* * *

The guy that Brittany was fighting had the same powers as her, except his webs were red. _Red_, of all colors! God, did that fight ever get interesting.

The spider guy was starting to get heavily irritating. He was mimicking all of Brittany's moves, which were _originals!_ They weren't from Peter - or even Spider-Woman. They were completely of her own making. And he just wouldn't slow down either; he shot webs from the ceiling, from the walls, on a table, on the floor, on a window, hanging off a light... jeez, he needed to frickin' calm down.

Wally gave Brittany a hand, as she distracted the spider guy. KF somehow defeated him for her, much to her dismay. Apparently, she got too distracted trying to figure out his next attacks, because the female assassin had gone and the guy with the silver chain and hook got dealt with by Miss Martian and Joe.

And of course: Yay, Dr. Roquette was still there. "She's getting away! You're letting her get away!" she nagged.

"This is all your fault! You were on perimeter! How'd that shadow get in?!" Wally fired at Artemis. Sheesh, what a jerk.

"That's... not really fair. I was outside too. And so was Joe," protested M'gann.

"Outside... being distracted by _her!_ Besides, I can't be mad at you."

_[You gave me mouth-to-mouth.]_ he thought, completely ignoring the fact that Joe had been doing perimeter as well.

_[We heard that!]_ thought everyone at once.

"Dang it!" said Wally, walking away.

M'gann and Brittany walked over to Artemis to give her recognition that no one else would give.

"I didn't do _half_ as well in my first battle," said M'gann, as Britt agreed. "And I know you can't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for very long," she continued, putting a hand on Artemis' shoulder.

"Uh, M'gann... you probably shouldn't call her a 'sidekick'. Remember what happened last time somebody called one of Green Arrow's protégés a sidekick? They went all ape shit," Brittany whispered to her, as M'gann nodded in agreement, but stuck with the term 'sidekick' anyway.

* * *

Robin spoke into his com, contacting Aqualad. "Robin to Aqualad. We're over in Philadelphia. We've located the Shadow's next target. S.T.A.R. Labs... we're too late." The Bio Ship flew over Philadelphia and the three heroes stared at the facility as it crumbled down into rubble.

"It's destroyed. Totally destroyed. The Fog decimated it. This is bad. S.T.A.R. Labs is cutting edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy." Robin, Superboy and Cat Girl exchanged looks of worry.

"What's our next move?" Robin asked Aqualad.

"Re-scan for that fog. Find it. We're moving the doctor," answered Aqualad.

That was the end of their conversation, as they continued scanning for the Fog's location.

Robin couldn't help but notice that Kat had a very deadpan look on her face. He'd never seen her look that way before. Usually, she always put on a tough façade, but that look was different.

"Hey, Kat, what's wrong? You don't look very whelmed."

"What does it matter to _you_, Boy Wonder? I thought the only things that mattered to you were being a tech geek and a little bitch to my sister," she answered in an aggravated tone.

"No, seriously tell me, what's wrong?" asked Robin, avoiding the second accusation she made.

"Fine. If it really matters, I'll spill. I don't want the Fog reaching Washington DC."

"Because?"

"Really? I have to tell you why?"

"Yes," joined in Superboy.

Kat took a deep breath, as if it was a really hard thing to admit. "I don't want the infiltrators to get to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Really? You could've just said that in the first place," said Robin simply.

"Yeah, well... let's just say, that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s not exactly my favorite spot to hang out or do favors for. The director, Nick Fury, is really... I don't know... challenging. Confusing. He has major trust issues. Basically, he's the typical leader who makes everything hard for everyone."

That awkward moment when you realize that Kat has feelings.

"And after all S.H.I.E.L.D did to help your family get back on their feet? Even letting you see your dad tomorrow?"

"Please don't mention that," she said, turning her seat to the front so that me and Supes couldn't see her face. "This whole time I've been wishing to see my father, when I don't even know what I'm gonna say to him. That's like, the equivalence of finally seeing your favorite celebrity, and you end up saying nothing because you didn't think that you'd actually be alive to see them in person." Okay, is it just me, or has Kat been going to therapy? Because it sounded like she had.

Anyway, Robin and Superboy quickly exchanged looks behind Kat before continuing to scan for the Fog.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY**

**AUGUST 8, 23:57 EDT****  
**

Natasha stood there watching her dad's unconscious body in a 1940's style hospital ward. Nick Fury and Agent Coulson stood as well, with Roy sitting down next to the bedside table: all of them were watching the unconscious soldier, as if anything could happen at that very moment. But he just lay there, still.

"So, are you gonna move to Brooklyn when he wakes up, or you going to try and get the hang of the Cave and Happy Harbor?" asked Roy, looking at Tasha, then to her unconscious father.

"Definitely. No matter how clueless he may seem towards 21st century life, I'm gonna _make_ him get used to things here."

"What about your sisters and your brother?"

"They can stay at Mount Justice; get used to things there. I don't think the almighty Captain America will be ready to raise, not one, but four teenagers. Besides, I'm turning eighteen this month. I can move back to Coast City in that case."

"So, you're only gonna stay with your dad for a short while?"

"Well, yeah. He'll want some time alone to think, right? I mean, if _I_ got frozen for seventy years, I would want some quality time for myself, as well."

After a few more short moments of silence, Coulson started talking.

"You know, you're father used to be my idol; he still is. I have mint-condition vintage Captain America cards. Even when he vanished into the ocean, he was never forgotten."

"Good to know," said Tash, not wanting to look at Coulson. Meanwhile, Fury stayed silent whilst staring off into space. It was kinda freaky, but at the same, completely normal.

"What about you, Fury? You got any future plans for him?" asked Tash, making him get back down to reality.

"I do, but those plans are classified and not to be acted upon as of yet." Damn. Fury always left people on the edge of their seats, wanting to know more. But he wasn't going to fool Tash this time.

"By the way, there's a Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian museum in DC. You should go check it out - if you haven't already," quipped Coulson, causing Roy to raise an eyebrow with a look on his face saying, 'Really? An exhibit dedicated to a patriotic superhero?' Tash raised her eyebrows back at him just to annoy him even more.

She and Roy eventually decided to leave the 'ward' and go outside into the cold night air.

"I actually might think about trying to get into Harvard again. It's the least I could do to not disappoint my father even more than he'll already be," Tash said to Roy, as they both started walking up the street of kenopsia, to the nearest zeta tube.

"Why would he be disappointed? At least he's not a rich playboy like Oliver," said Roy.

"Mm... yeah, you're right," snickered Tash, as she saw that Roy was smiling too. She'd never actually seen him smile before. It made him look more attractive than just having that stern glare all the time.

"Wow, Roy Harper has feelings," she said jokingly.

"What? So, you want me to look all serious like I always do?"

"Hm... you've gotta admit, you look pretty sexy when you're fighting bad guys and being all 'I am Red Arrow'," replied Tash, as he snorted at the compliment.

They both arrived at the empty run-down payphone disguised as their zeta tube. They stood in front of it, when Roy did the unexpected - he kissed Tasha.

And of course, like any rational person would, she kissed him back.

* * *

**~Brittany's POV~**

**HAPPY HARBOR  
****AUGUST 9, 24:03 EDT****  
**

Brittany, Wally, Miss M and Joe went to the local Happy Harbor Internet café where Artemis, Dr. Roquette and Aqualad were situated.

"Artemis, where is the assassin?" asked Aqualad, leaning on Roquette for support. Brittany saw that he had gotten shot by some poisonous looking darts.

"She... she got away," answered Artemis weakly.

Wally rapidly sped up to her. "Cool... from _you?_ Oh, _big surprise_... notice-we got ours." He gestured to the two other villains that they attacked, as M'gann levitated them in the air.

Wally looked down at the ground and found the mask that the shadow assassin was wearing. He picked it up, and of course he said, "Cool, souvenir."

"Her mask," said Aqualad, as he pulled the poisonous darts off one by one. "Did you see, her-her face?"

"It was dark," said Artemis simply.

"It is fine. Robin, Cat Girl and Superboy neutralized the Fog. And Dr. Roquette is safe. Thanks at no small part to you."

Artemis turned around to face the others, as Aqualad said, "Welcome to the Team."

"I've always wanted a sister - here on Earth, I mean. I have, twelve back on Mars but, heh, _trust_ me it's not the same," said Miss Martian, giving Artemis a warming smile.

"I... wouldn't know, heh... but, thanks."

Brittany then nudged Wally really hard in the gut ("Ow," he said, annoyed.) and whispered, "Don't be such a _complete_ asshole."

"Yeah... welcome," he said in a bored tone. He and Artemis reluctantly shook hands.

Well, _that_ blew up as planned.

* * *

**Don't you forget about these three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading guys! ;)**


	14. Kat's Meltdown & Captain America

**Chapter 13: Kat's Meltdown &amp; Captain America**

**~Third Person's POV~**

**NEW YORK CITY  
****AUGUST 9, 10:17 EST****  
**

A lime green Audi R8 Spyder 5.2 V10 was speeding its way across the Brooklyn Bridge, entering the borough of Brooklyn.

"Where did you say you were again?" The driver said, through a comm.

"I'm in Times Square. You're father managed to make it too," Nick Fury spoke through the comm. "He apparently had a date - back in 1945."

"Okay..." The driver was Natasha Summer. "Well, where are you gonna take him now? I'm all the way in the East of Manhattan."

"We'll take him to DC. He doesn't seem to mind going to several different places. You're siblings still at Mount Justice, I assume?"

"Yeah. But they're disappointed as hell."

"They'll see him soon. Just be at Washington DC ASAP."

"But I just _came_ from there. Why is it always _there_ I have to make second trips for - uh, don't answer that... sir." And she sharply turned her car around and sped back across the bridge, ending the conversation with Fury.

* * *

**WASHINGTON DC  
****AUGUST 9, 11:20 EDT****  
**

Tash quickly entered S.H.I.E.L.D's HQ, wearing a black tank top with a black leather jacket, dark blue skinny jeans, brown high heeled boots and a pair of aviator sunglasses. She tried to look a bit non-2010, but she had a modelling trial in a few weeks (it's something that pre-Yale students were holding auditions for), but she ended up looking like someone from 2010 than anyone else.

She walked into the main elevator and made her way to the Director's office. She went through the hallway and went up to the office door. She stopped for a minute, ltaking a deep breath and thought about who she was about to see. She hasn't seen her father in person... like, ever. Anyone could see why this was so hard for her.

And she finally brought herself to knock on the door.

* * *

**~Kat's POV~**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 9, 11:20 EDT****  
**

"Argh!" That was the sound of me hitting a punching bag.

"Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit!" I gave it one last punch and it flew backwards, detaching itself from the hook it was hanging from. I breathed heavily in frustration: I couldn't even see my own dad. Stupid Nick Fury; he's the main reason why I detest against S.H.I.E.L.D.

I mean, he wouldn't even tell us who our mother was, now he wouldn't even let us see our father. Hmph, but Tash could.

I hooked another punching bag to the ceiling, but this time, I took my straps off my hands, and put my claws on. They were a different make compared to Catwoman's. Her's were made out of simple metal, whilst I got mine specially made of vibranium. I bought it off Black Panther, since he had mines of it back in his home country called... Wakanda? I couldn't remember, but Selina is and always will be jealous of my claws.

Anyways, back to my frustration, I started scratching the hell out of the punching bag. I knew it wasn't the purpose of having a punching bag, but this was how a cat usually took out their anger.

"Why does Tash get to see him? Why is it always Tash that gets what she WANTS!" I knocked that bag down, and quickly hooked another one. "Tash has a boyfriend, Tash owns a convertible, Tash has the best powers out of all of us, Tash gets to go to Yale!" And then, without realizing that I didn't have my straps on my hands, I punched the bag and it split open, on the floor.

I felt tears starting to well up in my eyes. "And now she gets to see Dad." That's when the tears started streaming down my face. I dropped to the floor and started sobbing, taking off my cat claws so that I could bury my face in my hands.

I just needed to get all of my hate out of my system before somebody found out that I was crying.

"Kat? Are - are you alright?" I spun around to see that it was Black Canary. She saw all of it: my tear-stained face and the split punching bags on the floor.

"Kat, what happened in here?" She spotted my cat claws on the floor. Her expression changed from her normal one to a serious one.

"Kat, don't let me ask again: _what happened in here?_"

"I just- I just... let my feelings out," I answered weakly, sounding distraught from all the crying.

Canary closed the door behind her and sat down on the floor facing me.

"Well... would you like to talk about it?" She asked, rolling up my straps.

"Like... like right _now?_"

"Yes, right now."

I could tell that she wasn't going to go until I opened my mouth. So, I had no choice but to talk about my worthless problems.

"I've been waiting to meet my dad, literally my whole life, and Fury just decides, 'Oh, Steve Rogers is awake, maybe his desperately-longing-to-see-him kids should probably wait another century because I can do that! Haha'."

"Oh," Canary said, sounding disappointed that that was the problem I just ruined a section of the Cave's gym for. "Well... don't worry. You're obviously going to meet him in, I don't know... a while."

"A while?! Black Canary, I can't continue to live like this for a while!"

"Kat! It takes time to get used to a whole new era. Imagine if you came from the 1940's and you just suddenly woke up in 2010?"

"I wish people would stop using that excuse as an example... or that example as an excuse..."

"That's because it's true. What you need is patience - and please don't throw a 'Roy hissy fit' because I said that."

"Why on earth would I act like Roy? Roy's a pussy," I said, with a look of disgust on my face.

"Well, you're a pussy_cat_."

"What?" I chuckled, looking at BC weirdly.

"Whatever. Forget I said that. But, aside from your dad, it looks like there's another problem on your mind."

"Well..." I started to say, being really careful of what I decided to say next.

"I- I think I'm jealous of Tash. And it's not just her I'm jealous of: I'm jealous of all my siblings."

Black Canary just sat there giving me a pitiful look.

Suddenly, there was a loud, light-sounding knock on the door, which could only be by the bony knuckles of Brittany.

"Kat! You in there? I've got some _really_ great that you'd _definitely_ like to hear!" God, her voice just needed to mature already; she sounded like an eight year old trying to sing like a dying whale. Also, I didn't know why she kept on emphasizing the adverbs in her sentence. Yeah, that's right: I know things.

"Fine! You can come in, as long as you don't mind being in an environment where punching bags get split in half!" I answered, still sitting on the floor as Black Canary picked up the teared-up punching bag I clawed at.

"Well, what do you want?" I say, as Britt took a panoramic look around at the scene, and just sat down anyway.

"Well, if I tell you, you'd probably never be able to sit down _again_."

"JUST FRICKIN' TELL ME, WOMAN!"

"Okay, okay, I'm getting there," she laughed at the look of interest on my face, as she continued. "Guess what we're doing tonight?"

"What?!" I said, shaking her shoulders.

"We're going to see Dad!"

It felt like I just got shoved under a bus, as I started to cry again. But this time, it wasn't out of sadness or frustration: it was of frickin' happiness.

"Oh my god... this isn't just a prank from Wally, right? You mean... this is actually true?"

"Yes. Yes! We're gonna meet Tash there, so... please don't have any fights," she pleaded, putting on her puppy-dog eyes underneath those sunnies. Yeah, indoors and outdoors: it doesn't matter.

"Of course I won't. You know how much I love making good first impressions; that's my _thing,_" I said, straightening my shoulders and acting all pimp.

"Hm. You're pretty smart for an _unnatural _blonde - ow!" I quickly punched her in the arm, making her wince in pain. Honestly, she needed to learn to toughen up; Captain America would be expecting soldiers as his children.

"Come on, you two. If you wanna make a good first impression, hit the showers. You stink," Black Canary dismissed.

Me and Britt walked out of the gym; BC walking the other way. We walked down the hallway, making our way into the Cave's recreational area (basically, the lounge room and the kitchen).

"So, where is thy brother?" I asked, as Brittany sat at the bench and I got a box of Oreos from one of the kitchen cabinets.

"He's with his boyfriend, Wally."

"Hahaha, nice one," I approved through a mouthful of Oreo as we high-fived. I swallowed, as I said, "No but, really, where is he?"

"He's already at S.H.I.E.L.D. I think he took Wally with him-"

"Oh hell no! Human Cheetah Jr. is _not_ going to meet father-figure, and he never will!" I called; making my out of the kitchen.

"But wait, what if Dad _wants_ to meet KF?" she called after me.

"Well, then I'll give him a straight up pep talk before he goes off talking to retards like the Gingerbread-Man." And that was the last of our conversation.

* * *

**~Natasha's POV~**

**WASHINGTON DC  
****AUGUST 9, 18:03 EDT****  
**

"That, is a fire extinguisher. Yeah - you don't touch in case there's actually a fire," I explained to my father, as he looked at our surroundings in wonder.

I then got a text from Kat. I took my phone out, and it said:

**To: Tasha  
**aug 09, 6:04 PM  
**KAT:** WE'RE ON OUR WAY, BITCH! TELL DAD TO GET READY TO MEET HIS OTHER GENETICALLY ALTERED CHILDREN!

I widened my eyes; reading the text from Kat. Of course she'd say something like that.

"And what's that?" He asked, looking at the white iPhone 4 in my hands.

"Oh, this is today's generation's version of a phone - uh, telephone."

"Oh," he said. I could tell he was trying not to look like a clueless idiot. So I just assumed he was holding back his questions.

I text Kat back saying:

**To: Kat  
**aug 09, 6:06 PM  
**TASHA**: LOL. HE JUST ASKED ME WHAT AN IPHONE WAS. ANYWAY, I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD SAY THAT IN FRONT OF HIM, HE'S FROM 1945. I WOULDN'T EVEN BE SURPRISED IF HE DIDN'T RESPECT AQUALAD.

**To: Tasha  
**aug 09, 6:06 PM  
**KAT: **YA RACIST BIATCH. THEN HOW THE HELL DID DAD GET USED TO THE FACT THAT HE HAS TO BE NEAR NICK FURY LIKE, 24/7?

**To: Kat  
**aug 09, 6:07 PM  
**TASHA:** I DON'T KNOW, HOW SHOULD I KNOW?

**To: Tasha  
**aug 09, 6:07 PM  
**KAT**: WELL YOU'RE THE ONE THAT BROUGHT IT UP, WEIRDO. ANYWAYS, WE'RE ALMOST THERE. HAS HE MET JOE YET?

**To: Kat  
**aug 09, 6:08 PM  
**TASHA**: NO. I TOLD HIM TO WAIT OUTSIDE. I ALSO TOLD WALLY TO LEAVE BECAUSE THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FAMILY MOMENT. HE GOT UPSET BECAUSE HE REALLY WANTED TO MEET CAPTAIN AMERICA.

**To: Tasha  
**aug 09, 6:08 PM  
**KAT:** HA SUCKA! XD

Anyways, I got back to the real world, where my 90-year old, 25-year old looking father was waiting for me to put away the strange, new technology.

"You finished?" He asked, as I put my phone in the back pocket of my jeans.

"What - oh, yeah," I assured, trying not to make him feel uncomfortable.

"Well, in that case; where's your brother and your sisters?"

"Joseph's outside. And Katrina and Brittany should be here any second now-"

"Hello...?!" Yep. That was the unmistakable voice of Kat.

"Hey," my father said in a kind, yet simple manner.

"Hi. I'm Katrina, but you can just call me Kat. Whichever... suits you best," she said awkwardly, making a lot of hand gestures.

"Who's the small one?" Dad asked, smiling. Gee, my dad had a knack for looking really friendly. Hehe, I knew Brittany didn't like it when people called her little or small. But, surprisingly, she kept calm.

"I'm Brittany. I don't really have much of a nick-name, but..."

"Well, it's good that at least one of you's don't have a shortened name," and then Brittany did the unexpected: she ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Aw... Brittany was such a little girl.

And to everyone's surprise, he hugged her back. Both me and Kat exchange triumphant looks as that was the first time we saw Brittany actually being happy. This was a really cute moment.

Whilst still hugging Britt, Dad asked, "So, where's Joe?"

"Oh my god, he's still outside, hehe. I'll go get him," Kat said, walking out of the room.

I then thought, might as well give my good 'ol daddy a hug too.

* * *

**Aw, this chapter gave me the feels. Brittany's adorkable. Yeah, Joe isn't in this one, he had his spotlight in the last chapter, but don't worry! He's gonna be back in the next one. **

**Oh, and it looks like I will be writing about the Doctor Fate episode after all! Me and my misjudgment of time. :(**

**So, I'm including something new after every chapter I publish and it's called: QUESTION OF THE DAY! So, here it is:**

**QUESTION OF THE DAY:**** What has been your favorite quote out of all the chapters so far?**

**Let me know by answering in the reviews!**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Here are my three R's, do not forget: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	15. Daddy Daycare with a 1D Singlet

**Chapter 14: Daddy Daycare with a 1D Singlet**

**~Joe's POV~**

**WASHINGTON DC  
****AUGUST 19, 11:15 EDT****  
**

"No, Dad, you don't touch that. Just keep your eyes on what's in front of you," I told my father, as I sat in the passenger seat of my black Acura TL (S.H.I.E.L.D edition). Fury and Coulson came to an agreement that I was allowed to have one of S.H.I.E.L.D's cars, as long as I used it for sensible purposes; such as driving myself to school and driving to significant places. It's not be used for road trips, going to McDonald's or inviting girls inside, etc: You get the gist.

This was my dad's first time being in a 21st century car. Yeah... he knew how to drive, but he just didn't know how to drive a modern day car.

I mean, it's not like I was teaching him how to read or anything, he wasn't a toddler. He just needed to make sure that he doesn't crash my car by the end of the hour.

"Okay... got your seat-belt on?" I said, asking the most simplest question in a driving lesson. What? I _have_ passed my drivers test. I'm 16, okay?

"Check," he said, looking down at his fastened seat-belt.

"Checked your mirrors?" I asked, holding a driving logbook in my hand, and a pen in the other.

"Check," he said, looking at the rear-view mirror, then his side-view mirrors.

"Okay. Now, the tank's full, the windscreen wipers work, the air-con works, the radio works," I turned around in my seat and looked towards the backseats. "There's nobody else hiding in the car... yep, we should be good to go, Cap."

"Look, you can just call me Dad, daddy or father, okay? I don't mind, unless it's not something to do with my past life," he said, putting both his hands on the wheel, looking off into the distance... which was a busy main road, I might add.

"As you wish, sir," I said, clicking my pen and signing my name off in the space where it said, 'Licensed Driver's Signature'.

"Hey, buddy, don't push it."

"Sorry, Dad."

"It's okay. Now, am I ready to start the car?" Dad said, looking expectantly at me. We must've been sitting in there for about 20 minutes now.

"Oh - yeah, of course. Sorry. Insert the keys into the ignition and... well, you're a grown man. You remember how to drive, right?"

"Son, of course I can. It's one of the many things a person from the military needs to know how to do." He turned the keys in the ignition, and carefully pulled out of the S.H.I.E.L.D driveway.

"Cool." We drove off, taking a detour of Washington DC.

* * *

**~Kat's POV~**

I was at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, feeling extremely bored and reckless. God, I didn't know how anyone got any work done in such a boring workplace! I then spotted Agent Romanov; she'd have something for me to do. She always did.

"Hey, Black Widow."

"Hey, there, Kat. Are you busy being disruptive in the office again?" she asked; walking over to a fancy-gadget looking filing cabinet. She connected a USB into one of the sections that was marked with the letters 'S-T'.

"No, but I'm bored. Can you teach me how to play a game of poker?"

"Wait- what? No! Of course not! I've been partly made responsible for your well-being here at S.H.I.E.L.D. I am not letting you play poker!" And she walked away with one of the files marked 'Summer'. I hastily followed her down the hallway.

"Hey, wait! What are you doing with my family's file?" I called, catching up to her.

"Nothing. I need to speak with someone about it. Now, why don't you go... oh, I don't know... ice-skating or something?" she said, trying to shake me off her trail.

"But ice-skating's too gay! It's cold and it's hot at the same time. You know how terrifying that girl's foot was to look at in that movie called _Ice Princess_? It was _bleeding_ and it had _blisters all over it_."

"Well, anything else, except for distracting me from my work," she said, going into another and closing the door in my face.

"Bitch." I started making my way toward the nearest DC zeta tube and traveled toward Mount Justice.

* * *

**~Brittany's POV~**

**NEW YORK CITY  
****AUGUST 19, 12:31 EST****  
**

"Peter, we're not police officers. Why are we looking out for people who are speeding? I swear, everyone speeds in New York," I complained to my mentor, as we positioned ourselves on top of a tall building. What can I say? We had spider-senses, so we had amazing eyesight.

Hehe, see how I put _amazing eyesight_, which goes along with the Amazing Spide- oh forget it.

"Well, I said that _you're_ looking for speeding cars. _I_ on the other hand, am looking for thieves," he said, as he swiftly jumped down into an alleyway.

"Hey!" I called after him, swinging down as well. "If you're looking for thieves, I'm coming with you!"

"No can do, Britt," he said, swinging along apartment balconies.

"Why not?" I swung after him with just as much agility and speed. But I still wasn't as good at fighting.

"Because you're not ready to handle this sort of stuff."

"What do you mean, I'm 'not ready to handle this sort of stuff'? I've handled worse than a few bank robberies."

"It's not about the experience; it's about the way you handle the situation right then and there."

"Isn't that practically the same thing?"

"No, actually," he said, finally landing on the pavement on top of a compound. "I thought you would've known that already."

"Hey - still!" I exclaimed, as I landed facing him. "Can't I at least have a few more days of saving people's lives with my mentor/adopted cousin in New York before I have to go back to Happy Harbor?"

"Aren't you gonna live in Brooklyn?"

"Tash is gonna live with my dad in Brooklyn after her modelling thing that she has. Then, she'll be studying hard and try to get into Harvard again. If not, then she'll be on her way to California."

"What about her boyfriend, Katniss Everdeen?" he said, making a bow and arrow impression in the air.

"Who... oh! You mean Red Arrow - Roy Harper! Right, um... I don't know what's gonna happen. I mean, this whole relationship between her and Roy kinda makes me laugh because; he's such an uptight commando-guy and she's such a beautiful, funny and smart straight-A, pain in my ass. They're the perfect couple right?" I explain, not knowing if Peter was actually listening or not.

"I don't know. I'm not a love expert. Although, I do know who likes you..."

"Really - who!" I said quickly. "Um, I mean - really? Whom is this person that you speak of?"

"Oh please, you already know," He said, as we started walking along the paved alleyway.

"Just tell me! I don't give a crap if I know who it is or not!"

"Fine! It's Kid Flash."

WHAT. THE. EFF.

"What?! Why on earth would you say that!"

"Because you do," he snarked, pointing his finger at me in a sassy way.

"I do not! I look up to him as a brother. But a much worse one than Joe."

"Oh, come on. You know that I was _meant_ to say Robin," And for the first time ever, I had actually started to notice that whenever somebody said the word 'Robin', I kinda felt really dizzy. It was weird.

I stopped walking for a minute. I needed to get my priorities straight.

* * *

**~Kat's POV~**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 19, 19:39 EDT****  
**

Damn. Superboy looked mighty _fine_ with no shirt on. Aqualad on the other hand... meh. He's just Aqualad.

Supes and Kaulder were sparring, whilst everyone else watched. Brittany was busy with Peter, doing some spider-mission thing and Tash went on a date with Ginger No. 2.

Whilst the two hunks were sparring; me, Megan and Artemis were discussing some boy matters (I was filing my cat-like nails).

"Kaulder's... uh, nice. Don't you think? Handsome, commanding, you should totally ask him out," Artemis said, folding her arms.

"Pfft. Please, I'm pretty sure if I started eating seafood in front of him, he would need medical care," I said, holding my right arm out so I could find any faults in my shaping, and I found a ton of them.

"Aqualad's like a big brother to me. But you know Artemis, who made the cutest couple? You and Wally," Miss M said, as I burst out laughing.

"Ahahahaha!" And my laugh was that loud, Superboy and Aqualad stopped sparring.

"Keep going," I chuckled, as the two boys kept going at each other.

"Why? What's so funny, Kat?" Megan asked.

"Oh - nothing... I'm just, trying to picture them two together and um... you know, just the usual: the both of them rolling around in Doritos..." I said, trying to make Artemis feel uncomfortable.

"Okay. I now get why Brittany didn't want to know what goes on inside your head. 'Cause it must be nuts in there," Artemis said. "And, Megan; how would me 'Wal-Man' be a couple? A _cute_ one, especially. Care to explain?"

"Well, you're so full of passion, and he's so full of..."

"_It?_" Artemis finished, as we all cracked up laughing.

"But, you know who else would be an adorable duo?" Megan started. Okay, I did _not_ like where this was going. At all.

"Ooh, who?" Artemis asked, bouncing up and down like an eager puppy trying to hump somebody's leg.

"Brittany and Robin...!" That's when I had to let it all out.

"No, no. No, no. No, no. NO! Robin's a little _bitch!_ He doesn't deserve my sister."

"What? Why not? They're cute and you know it!" Artemis said.

"Yeah, well he's a little man-whore who needs to die in a box and be sent away to Madagascar."

"Oh, don't be so mean, Kat! He's a good guy- girl- girl- guy- boy... yeah. They are destined to be together," Megan said half-heartedly.

"Ha! If you told that to a fortune teller, they'd just end up laughing so hard that their crystal ball would _break,_" I said, continuing to file my out-of-shape pinky.

I then heard the computer state, "Fail; Aqualad."

"HA! FAIL!" I shouted.

"Be quiet, Kat! Stop being so rude!" Miss M said, nudging me with her elbow.

"Hey, I can't help it... sometimes." And that's when we got our stupid-ass mission.

* * *

**~Natasha's POV~**

**STAR CITY  
****AUGUST 19, 19:01 PDT****  
**

"So... what you're saying is that you wanna meet my dad?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I don't know. My dad's a bit... old-fashioned. Well, for all I know, he could be one of those fathers, that when he meets his daughter's boyfriend, they expect him to be like, the president or something."

"Oh, come on. He won't be _that_ bad."

"You never know."

Roy and I were on a date at some Italian restaurant in Star City, because we could. I was wearing a navy blue, strapless dress with a pair of matching feather earrings and a pair of black heels. Roy on the other hand, was just wearing a black suit. I had vegetarian lasagne (I know, sounds gross but I had to keep in shape for my modelling gig) whilst Roy had spaghetti bolognaise.

Roy accepted my decision to become a model, as long as I wasn't going to be the type to go anorexic or attempt to take growing hormones to make me 5'10". He said that it was fine with him if I was sexy and smart at the same time, which I already was, according to him.

I took a bite of my lasagne, and surprisingly, it tasted pretty good for a vegetarian meal. Roy twirled his spaghetti around his fork and tries to make it look seducing, but all it did was make me laugh.

"What are you doing?" I smirked, as I gestured toward the corners of my mouth to signal that he had some spaghetti sauce there.

"I'm trying to brighten up our relationship. All it's been is missions, riding solo, getting into college, unfreezing fathers, clingy mentors and getting into the Justice League," he explained, looking up at me as he dug his fork into his spaghetti.

"Yeah, you're right. Our relationship has been having it's ups and downs, but - it's still working," I admitted, eating more lasagne.

"Well in that case, Mount Justice tonight?" He said, eyeing me whilst trying - and I'm saying _trying_ \- to be seductive with his spaghetti again.

I just had to laugh at that. "What? Are you being serious...?" I chuckled.

"Oh, I'm being dead serious," he said, licking his finger.

"I'm pretty sure other people live there too," I snorted, as Roy quickly took the chance and tried some of my lasagne.

"Wow... that tastes... interesting. Are you sure that's vegetarian?" he asked with a weird look on his face.

"Yes. I even checked with the waiter," I assured.

"Okay..." And guess what he did?

He kissed me. The moment was alright for a couple going on a date at an Italian restaurant.

He pulled away and looked into my eyes. His were a mild shade of blue and mine were a deep shade of blue.

"Your mouth tastes like spaghetti," I giggled.

"Well, yours tastes like vegetable." And he kissed me again.

* * *

**~Brittany's POV~**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 20, 6:02 EDT****  
**

Ugh... I don't wanna get up. I kinda lost track of the days since I haven't gone to Happy Harbor High yet. Ugh... that name was too goddamn alliterated.

I laid in bed, covered in my blankets and what have you, as I rolled over and realized that there were no windows in my room. Great. I actually needed to get up to get fresh air. Ugh...

"Get up, loser! We're going shopping!" It was Kat. Far out, does she never get annoying?

The only sound that I made in response was a groan.

"Come on, stupid! Get up!" And she ripped off my blanket, revealing my secret Spider-Man shorts and a One Direction singlet. "Wow, you really are a little girl."

"Shut up," I looked up at Kat, turning my head away from my pillow. "Why are we going shopping anyway?"

"I needs to get you new school things. I expect we'll be going very soon," And she made her toward to the door.

"Oh and, uh... by the way: I'm choosing your new wardrobe collection. So you won't look like a dorky schoolgirl."

"WHAT?" And by the time I said that, she had already gone out the door.

* * *

**End of the chapter! Whoa, I sort've had a mind blank when I wrote this chapter because to be quite honest, the Doctor Fate episode was never my favorite to begin with. I just included some different POV's in there and tried to have some issues to deal with.**

**So, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! Also, I'm really beyond happy that you guys are reviewing and that you guys like my story, okay. It feels ****_really_**** good to know that there are people out there that like my story, so... THANKS.**

**Okay, that 'Question of the Day' thing didn't really help much at all, so I'm just gonna leave that out of the author's note.**

**Anyways, hope you guys liked it and that you want more: don't forget my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	16. There was a Spider in the Shower

**Guys, before you start: I would like to give a shout out to one of my friends on Quotev (a quiz and FanFiction site) and she has a Creepy Pasta story if anyone is interested in anime and that sort of stuff. It is called Eden (Ben Drowned Love Story). :)**

* * *

**Chapter 15: There was a Spider in the Shower**

**~Robin's POV~**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 27,19:58 EDT****  
**

"I need to talk Aqualad. The rest of you, hit the showers and head home," Batman ordered.

"Home? I _am_ home," Superboy said, walking past Batman, with Miss M beside him. They were both covered in mud, so I was just assuming that they were making their way to the Cave's showers.

I stayed beside Aqualad; Brittany standing beside me as well.

"_Just_ Aqualad," I felt a sudden pang of jealousy crossed with disappointment. Brittany looked at me for comfort, but Kat yelled, "Britt! Get your skinny little ass to the showers, NOW!" And Brittany quickly ran towards her sister.

Bats gave me one last look that said, 'Get home, _now_'.

* * *

**~Third Person's POV~**

"OH MY GOD!" The voice of Kat echoed from the Cave's showers.

Joe came running into the bathroom facility, wearing only a pair of boxers and holding a can of AXE Body-Spray, to see what all the commotion was about.

"Woah - what's going on?" He said, darting his head around different directions, attempting to look for the problem. He quickly spotted Kat wrapped in a towel, as she stepped well away from the nearest shower.

"If it's the cold water situation again, I swear it wasn't me, it was Wally!"

"THERE'S A FUCKING HUNTSMAN ON THE SHOWER HEAD! GET IT OFF!" She squealed.

Joe stopped getting all worried, and just stood there in disappointment.

"Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me right now?" He said in a bored tone.

"If it wasn't you who put it there, I'm blaming Brittany!" Kat shrieked. "Just use your AXE! Spray the crap out of it! I just want it GONE!"

"I'm not using my spray to kill a spider! You get rid of it!"

"Don't give me that tone Joseph! Kill it!"

"You kil-"

"What are you guys doing?" It was Brittany. She was, like the others, covered in mud, carrying all her toiletries and had a look of shock in her face, as she saw her brother and sister fighting.

"Brittany, did you do this? I know you did, because you just love raining hairy spiders on my head!" Kat yelled, stalking over to Britt.

"Why on earth would I set a spider on a shower head? A _shower head,_" Brittany answered.

"Well, someone has to get rid of it - NOW!" Kat ordered.

"Okay... fine," Britt set her things aside, went up to the shower head, and let the spider crawl onto her hand. She carried it away, out of the facility and came back a minute later.

"Where'd you put it?" Kat said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Outside..." Brittany said, wondering where else she would possibly put it.

"Alright, then. No more spiders in showers, okay?" Joe said, as he walked out.

"Come on. It was just a spider. We have to go to the West's place in about an hour. We don't wanna make an entrance that won't even _be_ an entrance," Kat said nonchalantly.

"Hmph. _'It was just a spider'_. Pathetic." Brittany muttered under her breath.

* * *

**CENTRAL CITY  
****AUGUST 27, 20:05 CDT****  
**

"It's such an honor to have you and your family in our house, Captain," Wally's mother, Mary West, welcomed.

"Please, just call me Steve," Rogers said. He and his family were at the West's house, celebrating Jay Garrick's birthday.

"Steve. _The_ 'ol Captain America, in Central City," Jay said in awe, his mind going off back into the 1940's.

"Shocking. We know. Can we _please_ have dinner now?" Wally said, whilst his stomach grumbled really loudly. Everyone heard.

"Now, Wally, we have guests over," his mother said politely through gritted teeth. Kat gave him a face with a smirk. That made him squint back.

As the food was brought out and passed along, the dinner conversation began.

"So, Steve. How're things going in 21st century life? You got swept away enough?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, I did. Everything's so different. It's hard to like it and get used to it at the same time. I mean, the food's good. We used to have to boil everything," Steve chatted, as everyone laughed.

"So, how come there's only three of your teenagers here? Where's Natasha?" Iris asked this time.

"Tash is... you know, always busy. She's studying hard, so that she can get another shot at Harvard," Steve answered.

After a few chews of his meal, Wally's father (Rudolph West) said, "Wow, Harvard. That's a very highly academic university. Has she applied for any other colleges?"

"She's gotten into Yale, actually."

"Wow. That's another highly-anticipated university. You should be proud that your eldest daughter has gotten this far," Iris obliged.

"Oh, believe me, I am. Me, I only went to the Auburndale Art School in Brooklyn. Nothing special about that. I only spent about a year in that place before signing up for WWII."

"What, a good-looking young man like you? I'm not surprised that you did," Jay inferred. He obviously didn't know that Steve Rogers was a science experiment for the Super Soldier Serum. He was better off not knowing.

"Anyways, have you three kids gone to a new school yet?" The West-Allen family was the type to ask a lot of questions along with their dinner conversations when they have guests over.

"Um, we haven't really decided yet since Dad has woken up. But we do have plans to enrol at Happy Harbor with Miss Martian and Superboy," Kat answered, putting on her best behaviour, which was surprisingly elegant for a girl that went rage-quit every five minutes.

And of course, when Kat wasn't rage-quitting, the whole dinner party was boring: full of Jay and Steve's WWII history, Kat talking about high school and how many boyfriends she'd have (of course, avoiding her dad's end of the table if she's talking about that situation) and of course, Wally eating everything and taking off Brittany's sunglasses and getting into trouble.

* * *

**~Kat's POV~**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****AUGUST 28, 10:09 EDT****  
**

"Okay. What I need you for, is to help me with my dance routine that I'm doing for my audition for the cheerleaders at Happy Harbor. They're gonna put up a challenge, and they don't want to see just some boring back-flips, front-flips, splits in the air and all that flexible crap. They'll wanna see some original things that I've made up on my own," I explained to a blank-looking Wally.

"So... you're gonna do a _dance_ routine for your cheerleading tryout - I don't... get that. At all," he said cluelessly, sitting on the floor, moving different parts of his body, as he looked at himself in the mirror.

The both of us were in a dance room that I paid the Justice League to fit in for me, and me and Wally were about to do some hardcore dancing.

"Alright. So, for our warm up - and don't you dare say that you're already warmed up because Miss M's on premises. You're supposed to be helping me, not hitting on the green Martian. You can do that later," I continued.

"Whatever," he said, now standing up, shaking out his arms.

"What we're gonna do now is... twerk," I walked over to the stereo and plugged in my iPod.

"Oh, my god. You have no idea how great I am twerking. I-"

"Uh-uh. Not so fast. I've done my research, and in order to have a decent warm-up... you have to be competitive."

"... and?"

"We're gonna have a twerking competition. Whoever wins, gets the privilege of... teaching my dad how to twerk."

"COOL! I _so_ wanna be the person to teach your dad how to twerk."

"So... let's get this party started!"

I started to play the song 'Dance (A$$)' by Big Sean, as we started shakin' our bee-hinds.

"Okay! Shake that thang!" Kat called over the the music.

_'Wobble-dy wobble-dy wa wobble wobble_

_I'm sta-stacking my paper my wallet look like a bible_

_I got girlies half naked that shit look like the grotto_

_How your waist anorexic and then your ass is colossal, like whoop.'_

And as soon as we got up to the next part of the first verse, guess who came in...

"OH MY GOSH, WHAT THE HEY-HEY! WALLY, HOW THE HELL DO YOU TWERK SO FAST!? IT'S ABNORMAL!" Of course it was Brittany.

"Woah! Okay, I did not need to see that," Then it was Robin. He screamed higher than Brittany did.

"Robin, I have never ever seen a butt twerk that fast before. I am now really, really scared," Brittany said, rubbing her eyes underneath her sunglasses.

* * *

**Thirty minutes later...**

**WASHINGTON DC  
****AUGUST 28, 11:00 EST****  
**

"I can't believe it. We got kicked out of the Cave for twerking. That kinda really sucks," I said, as me and Wally sat outside S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters.

"Oh, well. YOLO, right?" Wally insisted.

"Nah. It was more like mucking about and being idiots. But that's practically you everyday, so don't worry," I patted him on the back.

"Anyways... so who _did_ win the competition that didn't last very long?"

"I think it was a tie. And you know what that means..." We both looked at each other simultaneously.

"I bags teaching your dad how to twerk!" Wally quipped, as he quickly sped inside the building.

"Hold up! He's _my_ dad, douche-face!"

* * *

**And that was a very terrible chapter. **

**Seriously, the next chapter will go back to normal. Just bear with me, please. **

**I hope you really did try to enjoy that chapter, I promise you, the next chapter will not be as whack as this. Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate it, keep at it, maybe not for this chapter. I mean, you can if you want, but... REVIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

**So, don't forget about my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	17. The Summer Family is Screwed

**Chapter 16: The Summer Family is Screwed**

**~Natasha's POV~**

**NEW YORK CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 4, 09:45 EST****  
**

"Well... welcome to your new home," I watched, as my father walked into his new apartment in wonderment; looking at the new kitchen, living room, bathroom and other rooms.

"It looks a bit over-the-top modern, but... it's acceptable," he critiqued.

"Good because, Agent Coulson picked it out for you. I don't know why, maybe because he was fangirling over you, but he wanted to give you a great 21st century experience... without that sounding so incredibly creepy," I explained, as I helped bring in boxes of his new and old belongings.

All of the movement was quite hard because of the outfit I was wearing; a pair of Steve Madden Tristano platform pumps, a Haute Hippie Ruched one sleeve t-shirt, Forever 21 colored skinny jeans, a Rag &amp; Bone Wide Brim beach hat and a pair of Topshop Clear Large Seventies round sunglasses.

See, I needed to keep track of all the fashions I was gonna be wearing up until I go to my modelling workshop #1. I was currently wearing a September outfit for 2010 so, I was being straight-forward with the whole thing.

My dad was still getting used to the fact that I wore a lot of very... um, _different_ clothing every day. He'll get used to it - eventually.

I sighed, as Dad placed the last box of belongings in the living room.

"So, you sure you're gonna be alright at Mount Justice for a few months?" He asked me, as I sat at the kitchen bench.

"Yeah, of course Dad. You may not have known me as your eldest daughter for very long, but just so you know; I would never do anything stupid enough to lose your trust," I admitted simply.

"Well, to be quite honest, I trusted you ever since the day you came knocking on Fury's office door. You trusted your own instincts to open it just so you get a glimpse of your long-lost father," he said half-heartedly.

And then all of a sudden, I started to feel extremely nauseous; like a really bad headache cross between feeling like you're about to have explosive diarrhea (not that I know what that feels like, ew...).

"Hey, Tash... are you feeling okay? You look you're about to throw up," Dad said, noticing my obvious reactions to my unknown symptoms. "Do you need a glass of water-"

"No," I assured weakly. "I'm fine. I think it's time that I got back to the Cave. I'm sorry that I can't help you unpack-"

"Natasha, it's okay. You've done enough for one morning, especially in those heels. Go get some rest," he said as we both hugged. As soon as he let go, I darted out of the apartment, and out into the hallway.

I stopped for a moment, leaning on the hallway; my vision turning blurry and my stomach churning like a dying whale.

"The Zeta-tube. I need to get to the zeta beam tube," I thought out-loud to myself, as I hurriedly walked outside to the nearest rundown phone booth (the zeta tube).

I quickly stepped inside, as the computer flashed before my eyes as it recognized my identification.

"Recognized; Green Lantern Girl - B07."

As soon as I entered the Cave, I sprinted towards the bathroom facility and ran into the nearest toilet cubicle. I slammed the door shut and started retching out this morning's breakfast. Ew, even I thought it was gross and I was the one that was vomiting.

"Oh, shit..." I swallowed. I stayed still for a few minutes, just kneeling there. I closed my eyes, as I still felt the searing pain coming from my esophagus. What had caused this? Why was I feeling like crap all of a sudden? Not even I knew that.

I heard footsteps coming my way. Well, I did make a terrible racket, what with all the coughing and... I shuddered at the thought of it.

The footsteps entered the female bathroom and stood behind my cubicle door.

"Hello? Tash? Is that you? I heard you come through the Zeta-tube, so it could only be you who ran in here..." It was the voice of Black Canary. "...Tash?"

And me, being the idiot I was to leave the door unlocked, Canary made her way in and saw everything: the messed up toilet, me kneeling over the toilet bowl, my tears streaming down my face... I just hoped this didn't come to the wrong conclusion.

"Oh my god... what happened in here?"

"I d-don't know... I think I might be sick or something... would you, by any chance... know what it is?" I asked, flipping the toilet lid down (and flushing it) and wiping my face clean. We both walked out into the bathroom.

"Tash, I think we both know what this is... but I'm going to ask you anyway, and you have to promise me not to lie. Understood?" Canary ordered.

"Y-yes. I understand," I assured, through sobs and dripping tears.

"I know that you're an A-grade student, but... good students always do something wrong once in a while. So I'm just going to ask you: have you... have you by any chance... been drinking recently?" I couldn't believe what BC said... but inside, I knew that she was just trying to help me. So I told the truth.

"Well, I would be lying if I told you that I didn't..." I admitted, stepping a few inches back from Canary, just in case.

"Well, that could be the only explanation then. Look, we both know that God and the world knows what teenagers can do whilst under the influence of alcohol... so, just for the safety of this subject... have you missed your period?"

"I-I..." I stuttered, as I tried to recollect my few 'periodic' memories of my menstrual cycle. "I don't know."

We both stood there in awkward silence, as we took in the moment that I wished was never real.

"Natasha, tomorrow: You will get an ultrasound."

"Please - don't, tell Dad... I promised him back at his apartment that I wouldn't do anything stupid... and it turns out that I just did-"

"It's okay. He won't have to know until your figure starts changing. After that... I'm afraid you're on your own."

I felt like I ran straight through a solid brick wall, as I went over the dreaded thought that I might be pregnant.

* * *

**~Kat's POV~**

**GOTHAM CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 4, 22:34 EDT****  
**

I shivered, as I walked through the cold winds of the night, as Gotham's criminals lurk in the shadows. Eh, what did I have to worry about? I was sure Batman would just crush them with one of his fancy Bat-crusher things.

I breathed in and out, and watched my breath disappear into thin air. I shivered again. It shouldn't have been this cold at night. Somethin' strange was goin' on.

But guess who I bumped into.

"Selina! Wha-" I started.

"I think the question is: what are _you_ doing here...? This is Gotham, sweetie. Mount Justice is that way," She informed, pointing in the eastward direction. It was Catwoman.

"Forget me barging into your city. What's the deal with it being so cold in September?" I shoved my hands in the front pockets of my coat.

"That's how it always is here in Gotham. It never changes. Well, sometimes for the Big Bat," She prowled. Ew.

"Right... anyways, the reason why I came to this hell-hole, is to give Batsy's little twerp a message... and it's a real long message too."

"Go on."

We stayed silent for a few seconds because I didn't know what to say.

"What? I'm not gonna tell _you_. You sorta have a big mouth that doesn't like to shut up," I snapped at my mentor.

"Okay, fine. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But, would it help if I gave you some advice?"

"What?" I asked, clearly annoyed at this whole situation.

"Just, stay off Robin's back for a bit. He practically did nothing to you-"

"How can I when he's secretly molesting my sister!?"

"And what idiot told you that?" Selina asked, folding her arms.

"_Oh, please!_ Nobody had to tell me! I know these things, whether someone had to inform me or not!"

"Kat, stop thinking that you know everything. It's not gonna help the world with another snobby know-it-all roaming around the streets."

"No! And by the way, I thought that being a 'snobby know-it-all' is the only way a person is able to survive nowadays."

"Kat, I really do strongly advise you, to head home and get some rest. You're not you when you're mad and probably hungry like this. I only knew you were here _because_ of Robin."

"What?"

* * *

**~Joe's POV~**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 5, 7:30 EST****  
**

_"Don't wanna be a fool for you,_

_Just another player in your game for two,_

_Might sound crazy but it ain't no lie,_

_Baby bye bye bye, bye bye!"_

"Argh! Shut up!" I looked up from my pillow with blurred morning vision, and almost broke my phone for ringing.

It said:

**You have  
****(1) missed call:  
****Bobbi****  
**

"Ugh..." I groaned, quickly tapping Bobbi's contact, as the phone started ringing again.

After three rings, the Ice-Man picked up his phone.

"Hello?"

"Yo. Hey, Bobbi. How's it going?"

"I'm good dude. You?"

"Ugh... I just woke up, so... I guess I'm fine. Anyways, what's up? You called me about a minute ago, what happened?"

"Oh... if you just woke up then you probably won't take me that seriously, so-"

"No, really, man. Tell me. I'm up now," I said, intrigued, as I sat up on my bed.

"Okay. Well, you know Professor X, right?" He said with an obvious tone in his voice.

"Of course."

"Well, he was just recently using Cerebro and... he found you."

"And... what about me?"

"He wanted me to ask you if you wanted to... you know, get some work experience as a teacher, here at the mansion?"

Wow. That offer was all in all, a lot to take in and also, really random. I thought about it for a few seconds before answering back.

"Um... wow. I've never really thought about work experience and career choices until just now. Uh... tell him I said... yes," I answered.

"Oh. Alright, great! Um... since the Professor kinda predicted that you would say yes, he'd prefer you to come... the day after your first day of school."

"Oh. Okay, cool."

"Alright, bro. I gotta go. See ya, then."

"Later," And I ended the call.

I sighed, as I leaned my head against my bead stead. What on earth was I gonna be teaching to a bunch of mutant kids? Not even I knew that.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard an ear-splitting scream: it was Brittany.

She kept on screaming, as I quickly pulled on a shirt and pants, as I run out of my room, down the hallway, sliding in my socks.

"Ahhh!" The squeals were getting louder and louder as I approached my sister.

"Hold on, Britt, I'm coming!" I ran as fast as I could towards her screaming, which was coming from the Cave's HQ/Training Center.

"Joey! It was too bright, too bright..." Brittany was crouched down on the floor, her face red from crying. Something that I realized, was that she wasn't wearing her sunglasses. They were cracked and broken on the floor.

"Brittany, what happened? Who - or what did this to you? What the hell!?" I crouched down beside her tiny figure. I then realized, different parts of her body were spazzing like crazy in different directions.

Then it hit me: she was having an epileptic seizure.

"J-Joe, my head, really h-hurts..." her eyes stayed closed, as more tears streamed down her face. Honestly, I didn't really know what to do, because this is the first time I'd ever seen Brittany have a seizure.

"Joe! Brittany! What's going on!?" Oh, thank God. It was the loud-mouth voice of Kat.

"Kat! What do we do? I don't know what to do!" Brittany was still violently shaking on the ground.

"I got this. How long has she been seizing for?" Holy shit. Kat was a frickin' medic.

"She's been like this for more than 3 minutes."

"Oh, fuck. That's really bad. First we need to turn her on her side since she's on the ground."

"What the heck will _that_ do?" I asked, helping Kat turn Brittany on her side. Britt started gasping for air: she couldn't breathe properly.

"Just help me keep her alive, Joseph!" I did as I was told.

"Quickly. Since she's been like this for more than 3 minutes, call 911," I whipped out my phone and dialled the numbers '911', as I could see a gleam of worry and scaredness in Kat's eyes. The only time I'd ever seen her like that was when Brittany drowned at Malibu beach and- wait, THE TASK AT HAND!

The phone kept ringing, and after three times, the operator had finally answered: "911 Operator_12# Happy Harbor, where is the emergency?"

"Um- hello, our location is-" I covered the phone's speaker with my hand.

"Kat, how are we supposed to tell the operator-lady where we are when we're at Mount Justice? Are they even allowed to come here?"

"I don't know, just tell them... tell them that we accidentally called the wrong operator and we're terribly, terribly sorry!" Kat shouted hurriedly - and then something so bizarre started happening to Brittany: her eyes started turning black. Like, as in, the whites in her eyes had turned black and she looked like some weird demon-child.

"But won't we get fined for that?!"

"JUST DO IT!"

I took my hand off the speaker and stuttered the words, "I am terribly, terribly sorry. We seemed to have called the wrong operator. Goodbye," I ended the call.

"Oh my god, we're gonna go to frickin' jail for calling 911 for nothing! Shit!" I exclaimed.

"Who cares! Right now, our little sister is extremely close to dying. Quickly, contact Batman! He'll know what to do," I quickly did the usual method whenever someone at the Cave contacted Batman.

Batman appeared on the computer's holo-screen.

"What's the emergency that you've needed to contact me for at this time of morning?" Dafuq? What else would Bats be doing other than fighting crime? Making breakfast? Ironing his clothes - oh wait, he has a butler to do all that.

"Batman! Brittany- er, Spider-Girl is having an epileptic seizure. We don't know what type it is, but she needs medical attention immediately, according to Dr. Kat."

"How long has she been like this?" Bats asked.

"She's been acting like this for longer than the 3 minute seizure period. We've put her on her side to stop the...the-"

"Batman, we've put her on her side to stop her from banging her head backwards on the floor and from swallowing any fluids. We need back-up, now. And I mean _right now,_" Kat explained in one hurried breath, and everything seemed to be a rush from then on.

Batman's screen vanished and Superboy and Miss Martian appeared from their sleeping quarters (fully dressed. Nobody dresses themselves as unplanned as I do) and started asking questions about what's been going on. God, what have they been doing that they didn't even know that a member of the Team needed medical attention? Useless people...

* * *

**~Steve Roger's POV~**

It was like a heavy weight had fallen on my chest: my daughter was in an ER of the Brooklyn Hospital.

I ran past the big crowd, past the nurses, but before I could go inside - someone got in the way.

"Not so fast, Rogers." It was Director Fury.

"Listen, now's not a great time to lecture me, Fury. I don't even know if my daughter's dead or not-"

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But before you go rushing to your little angel's bedside, I suggest you listen to what I have to say first."

"... alright fine. But make sure it's worth me waiting on my almost-dead daughter," I said impatiently.

"Look; whenever _this_," Fury gestured towards the ward Brittany was being held in. "Type of thing happens in the 21st century, especially to a teenage superhero... we don't just suspect that this has occurred because of a common epileptic seizure. Since she's Spider-Girl a.k.a the protégé/sidekick/adopted-cousin of Spider-Man, S.H.I.E.L.D. strongly advises that all close family and friends keep a close watch on her 'saving people's lives' schedule. Which brings us to the conclusion of saying that the occurrence of this epileptic scenario may be... the known alien symbiote, Venom," Fury explained, as I took in all the information carefully.

"I understand what you're saying Fury. But what I don't understand is; why isn't the doctor or one of S.H.I.E.L.D's scientist's telling me this? Why waste your time coming here in person when all I am is a patriotic mascot? Why?"

"That, is for you to figure out. But in the meantime, think about what I just explained to you, and try to let it sink in," and like that, Fury walked off, as if nothing had ever happened. I decided not to make a scene and tell him to explain further, so I just went into the room.

As I walked in, I spotted Brittany lying in her hospital bed, looking so weak and fragile. Her heart rate was still going at a steady pace, but barely. One false inhale of air and it could very well have been lights out for her. I sat in one of the chairs to her left and lowered my head to think about what Fury said.

I didn't know anything about this 'Venom' that was apparently the seizure's occurrence, but it didn't sound like a legit reason for Brittany to be in this physical state.

I heard someone's footsteps as I realized it was the doctor's. She came into the room wearing a white doctor's coat with a stethoscope around her neck. She was also scribbling down notes on a clipboard, looking at Brittany's heart rate and checking her pulse.

"Mr. Rogers, you really should count yourself lucky that your daughter has only had a Generalized epileptic seizure. If it were an Unknown seizure... well, who knows what could've happened if your other children didn't make contact with our hospital. For all we know, Brittany would've been dead due to strong atomic plate damages in her brain," the doctor explained all in one go.

At that moment, the two twins came into the room.

"By all means Captain American daddy, what sight is more heartbreaking? The fact that your youngest demon-child is lying in a bed of unicorns and rainbows, or the fact that your eldest daughter is getting a baby ultrasound?" Kat remarked with a smirk on her face.

What on Earth was she talking about?

"I'm sorry, did you just say that Tash is getting an _ultrasound?_ For a _baby?_" Honestly, what I was hearing couldn't sound any crazier than knowing what century I was in.

"Well, at least I'm not your problem child anymore. Just be thankful that I'm being extraordinarily nice today and that Joseph here, isn't gay."

"Kat, why are you telling me this?"

"It's because I care. If I didn't care, Brittany would be dead right now because Joe is a completely useless pile of shit."

"Yes, but I heard from Batman that you also tried to call 911."

"Haha- idiot," Joe quipped, smirking at Kat. As a result, he got a big smack in the head.

"At least I wasn't the one who was just _standing_ there, doing nothing," she argued. "You do realize Brittany could have DIED."

"Well, that was the first time I've ever seen her go all-out spazz attack like that!" He retorted.

"Guys, if you're going to argue: do it outside. I'm sure Brittany wouldn't want to wake up to you two squabbling about who's better than who," I scolded.

"Yes sir- Dad," Joe lowered his head, as he and Katrina walked out the door.

About a minute later, another nurse came in.

"Sir, would you like a few more minutes with your daughter? The doctor just needs to run more tests on her to see if any more damage has been caused to her atomic plates," she explained.

"Uh, actually... I'd like to see a gynecologist," I said, getting up from my chair.

"Um, sir... what exactly would your intentions be with one of our gynecologists?"

"It's not the doctor I want to see," I went over to the sleeping figure of Brittany and kissed her forehead. "It's the patient."

* * *

**End of the chapter! I'M SO SORRY THAT I DIDN'T UPDATE! I literally haven't published a chapter in ages, and for that I'm terribly, terribly sorry. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you are wondering what will happen next.**

**Don't forget my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading, guys! ;)**


	18. Brittany and Robin Need to Date

**STORY WILL BE FROM ~THIRD PERSON POV~ FROM NOW ON.**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Brittany and Robin Need to Date**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 7, 06:41 EDT****  
**

"Dad, how many times do I have to tell you: it was an _accident_. I can just as easily get an abortion."

"Back in my day, abortions weren't always the solution to lady-problems. You're going to school."

Tash groaned in irritation, as she and her father walked to the Cave's 'garage'. Joe and Brittany quickly ran to their sides, back-packs and all.

"Hello, Daddio," Kat chided, skipping along the corridor.

"Hey, sweetheart. You ready for your first day?"

"Pfft, no. Not when I can't torment people. It's so lame."

"That's not the purpose of school. You're supposed to learn-"

"Well, we're done learning, Dad. We need to start having the ability to teach," Joe cut in. Ever since that phone call with Bobbi, he'd been sort of hesitant to go back to school.

"Gee, what's gotten into you? Are you having the Menzies? 'Cause I ain't ready for that shiz-"

"No, Kat. Guys don't menstruate, and they never will," Joe replied, glaring at his sister.

"Alright, suit yourself Mr. PMS-"

"Shut up, the both of you!" Tash snapped. They both fell silent. Steve had gotten used to the fact that whomever the woman was that carried those two twins in her womb, he felt extremely sorry for.

"Man, if only Brittany was here. She'd agree with me that school already sucks, even though we haven't been to it yet. Not including the 'Infiltrator' mission," Kat said, obviously not having listened to Tash about shutting up.

"Uh... do you think that the school would've noticed that we totally trashed their science and computer labs?" Joe asked.

"Uh... you were the reason that those rooms got trashed. I on the other hand, went in the Bio Ship with Large Asshole and Mini Asshole to go save the world. See the difference there, Joey?"

"Okay, we're at your departure. We gotta make this quick so I can make it back to Brittany," Steve said to his children.

"Yes, Dad," the three said simultaneously.

He turned around to leave, but then looked back. "Oh and Tash, if you can: don't cry during health class. It'll only raise suspicion," and he left.

Tash scowled at the exit after her dad was gone. "Sometimes, he can be _such_ an old fart."

Kat snorted at her remark, as they walked over to Megan and Superboy.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 7, 6:43 EST****  
**

"Ew... hospital food. Gross," Brittany squirmed, dipping her spoon into her jelly. She raised a spoonful to her lips, but couldn't bring herself to eat it.

As soon as she was going to press her nurse button, a smile came to her face when she saw the person that came through the door: it was Robin.

_God, this is embarrassing_, she thought as she looked at Robin, who was looking just as cute as the last time she saw him. Brittany, on the other hand, was wearing a hospital gown and her blonde hair was pinned back with a hair-pin... and she was wearing a pair of black Ray Bans.

"Hey, gorgeous," he said, going up to her and giving her a hug.

"Hey. How've you been?" Brittany asked, trying her best not to seem too happy that she has a friend that wears sunglasses everywhere as well.

"Forget about me, what about you? You had an epileptic seizure - a Generalized one, may I add. For all anyone could know, you... would've been dead."

"It's been three days since it happened. I only woke up just yesterday and the nurses think it's okay for me to have this disgusting food," She critiqued.

"Wow. Well, while you were unconscious in a hospital bed, your dad got furious with Batman about the health and safety that's been held at Mount Justice. Batman told me that your dad's starting to rethink about having you on the Team."

"Wait... my dad - my Captain America dad, said that?"

"Yeah. And it also turns out that you're not the only child that's put a problem on your dad's hands. Unfortunately, Tash is pregnant." There was a massive awkward silence between the two, as Brittany took the time for the message to sink into her damaged head.

"Wow... but, Tash is so intelligent though. How could she let something like that happen to her?" Britt asked, folding her arms and sitting back.

"Apparently she was drinking. Probably the most common thing that 18-year-olds do nowadays," Robin answered in a low voice.

"Hm... true, true. This must mean that she's not allowed to see Roy again, correct?"

"Not exactly. You see, Tash was the one that went to Star City, so your dad thinks that it's her own fault. But, it's also Roy's fault for offering her alcohol. It's complicated, but not so much when you start to think through all the complications."

"Well, I'm glad that you don't think I'm a freak for having the weirdest family in the world. It's not everyday you get an 80-year-old virgin, a pregnant girl, a sexy bitch, a dumb jock and an epileptic all in one family. It's insane," Brittany chuckled.

"Well, that's not exactly how I would've described Captain America, Green Lantern Girl, Cat Girl, Havok 2.0 and Spider-Girl to be. But at least you have a family," Rob said, trying hard not to look sad in front of Brittany.

"Oh, no. Robin, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine."

"No, I don't like it when people say that they're fine. Because whenever they say they are, they're really not. I'm sorry, Rob," Britt said, feeling really bad for not thinking about Robin's past.

"Don't apologize. I'm the one that brought it up."

It became awkward again. Thankfully, that awkwardness got broken by none other but the superhero version of American Dad.

"Oh - I didn't know you were having other visitors today-" Steve stuttered, as Robin stood up from his chair.

"Oh, no - sorry Captain - sir. I was just about to leave-" Robin started.

"It's okay... but, it would be nice of you to leave."

"Dad-"

"No, it's fine," Robin agreed, ignoring the fact that Britt doesn't like it when people say they're fine, but says it anyways. "I'll leave, sir. I hope you get better Brittany." And he walked out as Britt waved him goodbye.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted your little hospital date with Bat Boy, but I needed to see you as soon as possible," her father explained. Brittany squinted her eyes at him, but all he could see were angry eyebrows.

"It's okay," Britt said, loosening her face as the moment passed.

"So, how are you feeling?" Steve asked, sitting down and checking his daughter's temperature.

-"I'm feeling quite well, actually. I try very hard not to think about the other day. All it brings is tears to my eyes- literally. Every time I think about it, I have the urge to cry, because I know that crying at least stops me from seeing things that I don't want to see."

"Well, do you mind talking about it now? I won't feel offended if you start crying, coming from what you just said..."

"If you want me to, then I will," Steve nodded his head for her to go on. "Well, I don't know what attacked me, but it definitely felt familiar-"

"Fury told me that the supposed occurrence of the attack was from something he called Venom." And as soon as he said that, it dawned on Brittany that she was right to think that her attacker was something familiar: Venom.

"That must explain that cold feeling I had when I fell down. It was like a telepath was constantly trying to get in my head, but I kept on fighting back. Except, it wasn't a telepath: it was the alien symbiote," she explained. Steve had a really confused look on his face.

"So, Venom must've been hiding somewhere in the Cave and decided to attack me that morning whilst everyone was still asleep. Venom must've somehow gotten into my brain because it felt like it was trying to poke my eyes out. I couldn't see a thing. I didn't want to, so I closed my eyes. I didn't see my attacker, but now that you've told me that it was Venom... I don't feel like taking my sunglasses off ever again."

"It's okay now-"

"No, it's not. Venom could still be inside of me, waiting for the right moment to attack, when everyone would least expect it. Right now, Venom could switch my personalities... and I could end up killing you," Brittany worried, inching away from her father, scared that something could happen at any second.

"Brittany, I'm still not exactly sure what this... this _thing_ that seems to be possessing you is, but I won't let it kill anyone."

"Dad, you don't understand. This thing has even possessed Peter once: there's no telling when it could strike again. But this time, it has me to cling on to," she said with a shaky voice.

"Brittany-"

"Sir," it was the doctor. "We're going to have to ask you to leave please. We need to run some emergency tests on your daughter."

"But-"

"Sir, it'll be fine." And the doctor gestured towards the door as Steve quickly kissed Brittany's forehead, Brittany gave him a tight hug and then her father walked out the door.

* * *

**HAPPY HARBOR  
****SEPTEMBER 7, 07:58 EDT****  
**

Kat sighed as her, Joe, Tash, Megan and Superboy (who was under the civilian name of 'Conner') stepped into the Happy Harbor High schoolyard.

_Oh, god_, Kat thought looking around at all the sophomore boys. "These boys are frickin' hot," she smirked, winking at a nearby blonde jock. "That one especially."

"Kat, he has a senior Letterman jacket on. No," Tash pestered.

"This school has senior Letterman jackets? I want one!"

"Kat, you're not a senior."

"I don't care! If a jacket that cool can make a guy look that _hot_, then just imagine how sexy it would look on _me!_"

Tash rolled her eyes as her and Kat turn to their brother.

"Hey - Joe?" Kat asked, both her and her brother stepping away from the crowd.

"Yeah?"

"Are you planning on joining the football team?"

"Yes, but no I'm not gonna join because you think that the blonde quarterback is hot."

"Damn you, Joseph!" And Kat stormed away to Megan's side. Megan walked over to Conner, but then suddenly, a boy riding a skateboard was about to zoom past them, as Conner grabbed him from the back of his shirt collar.

"Hey - hey!" The boy squirmed.

"What's this?" Conner interrogated, pointing at the 'M' on the boy's shirt which was in the shape of Superman's 'S'.

A voice then came from out of the crowd.

"Put Marvin down," It was a really tough looking jock with who seemed to be with his girlfriend. He was wearing a Superman t-shirt. As Conner scanned the crowd around him, he realized that everyone were wearing superhero shirts as well.

"This kid's called Marvin?" Kat smirked, as Tash elbowed her hard on her left boob. "Ow! Why the heck would you tittie-punch me?!" she whispered, scowling.

"Just keep your mouth shut for once," Tash whispered back.

Conner put Marvin down, along with his skateboard. Marvin quickly got up and tried not trip himself in front of Conner.

Then another person entered the scene. This time it was a teacher: Lucas Carr.

"Alright, alright. Break it up! Everyone, get to class!" he ordered, as everyone outside filed into the school building, including him. "Mal. Come on."

The guy called Mal shoved Conner's shoulder as he walked past. Conner was about to use his natural instincts and attack Mal, but Megan stopped him.

_[Conner, no!]_ And he stopped in his tracks.

As everyone went to home room a girl with short black hair, wearing a cheerleading uniform came into view.

"Man! You faced off Mal Duncan!?" Marvin said, going up to the group of newbies.

"Hi! My name's Wendy Harris. Marvin and I were both new last year, so we know how it feels to be new around here," she welcomed, a hint of buzzing excitement in her voice.

"Oh, I'll introduce ourselves. I'm Megan Morse, this is Conner Kent-" Megan began.

"Cool! Double alliteration!" Marvin exclaimed (Kat scowling at him because it wasn't even double alliteration).

"And this is Joseph, Katrina and Natasha Summer. But, you can just call them Joe, Kat and Tash," Megan finished.

"Wow... so you three are all related?" Marvin asked in awe.

"We have a little sister as well, who should be starting as a freshman here, but - she couldn't make it today," Tash explained, hesitantly mentioning Brittany.

"Oh... such a shame. I'm sure she's a very nice girl. But on the other hand... you girls look like total Bumblebee material!" Wendy said, gesturing towards Megan, Kat and Tash.

"What the hell are the Bumblebee's? Is this like, street racing except with Transformers?" Kat asked.

"No, but I wish," Wendy answered. "The Bumblebee's are our school's cheerleading team. I'd totally love it if you tried out!"

"Um... not me. I'm not feeling up to shape at the moment-" Tash started, but got cut off by Wendy.

"What? No way! You'd be absolutely perfect!"

"It's okay, Cheery Whore. I'll _definitely_ be part of the Bumblebee's team. I've got a little somethin' to show that no other cheerleader has done before," Kat obliged, with the look of a classic troublemaker.

"She'll wanna twerk. She tried to teach our dad, it didn't turn out very well," Tash said, earning a glare from her sister.

"So, I guess we'll definitely be there," Megan agreed, trying to cut off the awkwardness Kat was creating.

"Okay, awesome! It's after school, so make sure you're free."

"Yeah, Kat. No making out with boys under the bleachers," Tash said, earning a tittie-punch from her sister.

"Ow!" Tash said, folding her arms over her boobs, protecting them from Kat.

"We'll be there. And I'll make sure I take my brother with me as well," Kat said in her usual bitchy tone.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 7, 12:32 EST****  
**

"Well, Miss Summer. You're doing extremely well for an epileptic patient at such a young age," the doctor said, wearing a surgical mask and had a table laid out with different medical tools.

Brittany was lying on her hospital bed, almost sitting up with the amount of pillows she requested.

"Erm... yeah, I guess. A lot of doctors say that I have an awesome immune system, and that keeps me from being weak when I'm sick."

"Yes... you do have a very good immune system," the doctor was testing out all the tools on the table, tapping them precariously, sharpening a few knives... but what did make Brittany suspicious was that there was no one else outside of her room. The OR (Operating Room) was completely empty except for her and the doctor.

"Tell me Brittany, how is your father doing these days?" The doctor asked, avoiding eye contact with the young girl.

"Um... great, I guess. Why would you be concerned with how my father's doing?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just... he doesn't seem to have changed one bit since the last time I've seen him."

"I'm sorry - the last time you've seen him? What are you talking about?"

The doctor took off her surgical mask to reveal dark green lipstick and a face with sharp features.

"'Vell, I do not think it 'vill matter 'vhen it 'vas the last time I 'ave seen your father. He should 'ave died... eighty years ago," the weird doctor lady said in a German accent, taking off her white over-coat, revealing a green spandex outfit. "_Hail HYDRA_."

Brittany screamed, as she realized who had been her doctor all along: it was Madame Hydra.

"No... no, NO!" Brittany squealed, sitting up on her bed. "Where is everyone? What did you do with them?"

"Oh dear, 've only put 'zem to sleep... just like 've did 'vith you," Madame Hydra had pulled out a silver gun from her utility belt, and held it to Brittany's head. "Now, you 'vill tell me 'vhere your father's next move is, or else... 'zis bullet, 'vill be the very last thing you'll see with those damaged eyes of yours."

"Please... what do you want with my father?" Brittany said, putting her hands up to her head.

"'Ve 'vant to pay him a little visit, that's all," she said, crouching down to get closer to Brittany's face. "And 'zhen 've 'vill _crush_ him. Like a tiny bug."

* * *

**Oh no, Brittany! I don't know what's freakier: the fact that Kat likes seniors or the fact that Wendy doesn't know that Tash is pregnant. Well, you just gotta wait until my next update, HAHA! Thanks for the reviews, I love you guys so much, Keep It Up! (I haven't really added much dialogue with Mal Duncan, because he's not really much of a significant character, so... *shoulder shrug*)**

**Don't you forget about these three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading chaps! ;)**


	19. Born to be a Cheerleader

**Chapter 18: Born to be a Cheerleader**

**HAPPY HARBOR  
****SEPTEMBER 7, 16:31 EDT****  
**

"Okay, Megan, you're up!" Wendy said.

Megan nodded, as she got ready for her cheer tryout.

"Float like a butterfly,  
Sting like a bee,  
Hornets, Hornets, can't be beat!  
Bzzz... ting. Ow!"

"Woohoo! Go Megan!" Kat and Joe cheered, clapping.

Megan saw Wendy and her two other cheerleaders talk in low voices.

"Hm... my friends and I have decided to let you know if you got in after Kat's done her cheer. Kat, your turn!" Wendy called.

Kat got up and wore her signature bitch-face. "Just sayin', this cheer is not mine, it does not belong to me, it belongs to the one and only iconic cheerleading movie... 'Bring It On.'"

All the other cheerleaders started to stir in anticipation, but Wendy silenced them.

"Well, just make sure it's really good then," Wendy nodded.

Kat cleared her throat.

"I'm sexy, I'm cute,  
I'm popular to boot.  
I'm bitchin', great hair,  
The boys all love to stare.  
I'm wanted, I'm hot,  
I'm everything you're NOT.  
I'm pretty, I'm cool,  
I DOMINATE this school.  
Who am I?  
Just guess, guys wanna touch my chest.  
I'm rockin', I smile,  
And many think I'm vile.  
I'm flyin', I jump,  
You can look but don't you hump.  
Whoo!  
I'm major, I roar,  
I swear I'm not a whore!  
We cheer and we lead,  
We act like we're on speed.  
Don't hate us, 'cause we're beautiful,  
But we don't like you either!  
We're cheerleaders,  
WE ARE CHEERLEADERS! Uh-huh!"

And Kat finished her cheer with a front handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, full twisting lay out.

"Whoa..." the other cheerleaders said simultaneously, each with their mouths open in awe.

"Woohoo! That's my bitchy sister right there! Woo!" Joe applauded. Tash just kept sitting down with a glum look on her face, trying hard not look disappointed in front of Wendy and the others.

Wendy and her girls started talking again, but then the others walked away.

Wendy walked over to Megan and Kat.

"How'd I do?" Megan asked, clasping her hands together and looking nervous.

"Oh, please, you were terrible. I, on the other hand, was a truck-load of awesome," Kat remarked. That girl was really starting to get on Megan's nerves.

"You guys did great, and I'm really sorry about this..." Suddenly, Kat and Megan got absolutely drenched in water by two other cheerleaders. At that moment, Conner just couldn't control his emotions and decided to get up from the bleachers.

_[Conner, no!] _Megan thought, and Conner ended up stumbling his way down the bleachers, and fell onto the football field.

"Sorry. It's a stupid initiation ritual that I wish my teammates would _abandon!_" Wendy said through a smile.

"...wait. Initiation ritual?" Megan asked.

"What's next, a spirit stick that can't touch the ground or else if we drop it we're all gonna go to _Hades?_" Kat said, quoting from Bring It On.

"Wait, Kat... _Hello,_ Megan! That means we made it on the team! U-um, we did, right?"

"You're both Bumblebees! Oh, and Kat, keep up the attitude and you might just become head cheerleader," said the cheerleader who seemed to be Mal Duncan's girlfriend.

"OMG, cool - pfft, piece of cake," Kat said, as her and Megan ran up to Wendy and had a big group hug.

"So... is that your boyfriend? 'Cause... he's hot, but kind've a freak," Mal's girlfriend asked Megan, pointing at Conner who had fallen on the ground.

After cheer trials, the group of teens started walking out of the football field.

Conner went and grabbed Megan's school books.

"You're carrying my books?" Megan asked, holding Conner's jacket around her.

"What? You _want_ them to get wet?" And he started walking away.

"Ooh, someone likes you..." Kat started.

"Shh, you!" Megan said, not minding that Kat was still making fun of her, but remembering that Conner had super-hearing.

As the group make their way off the field, Megan noticed that Tash had been quiet throughout the whole cheer tryouts.

"Hey, Tash. You okay?" Megan asked the troubled teen.

"No," Tash replied, facing the ground as she walked.

"...have you spoken to Roy since you phoned him?"

Tash looked up and Megan saw those pale blue eyes. "...no."

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 8, 19:50 EST****  
**

"Tash! I need to talk you. Please, open up!" A voice came from outside the door.

"She's not home!" Kat exclaimed with a mouth full of cake.

"Shut up, Kat," Tash said, walking to the front door of her father's apartment.

Tash opened the door to see the person she was least likely to see show up on her doorstep: it was Roy.

"Roy, you know I'm not allowed to see you!" she whispered.

"Ooh! Being rebellious much!" Kat whispered across the room, looking at the pair over her piece(s) of cake.

They both glared at Kat, as she stuffed her face with more chocolate crumbs and icing.

"_What?_" she asked, acting all innocent.

"I know that I'm not, but I need _you_ to tell me what's going on _now_. It seemed like only yesterday you were on the phone telling me you're pregnant. Is this really true?" he asked, ignoring Kat. Tash noticed an actual glimpse of scaredness in his eyes.

"Kat. Out," Tash said, as Kat looked up from her phone and cake.

"Wha - why?" Kat asked, looking at her plate of decadent-looking cake.

"Just... I don't know... keep yourself busy for about half an hour, or something."

"Ugh, fine. I'll leave you two _whores_ to figure out your own problems. Asta la vista, bitches." And Kat grabbed her keys and coat, as she stormed out the door, scowling past Roy.

"Come inside and I'll tell you more about it," as he stepped inside, Tash noticed that his skin was paler than usual. "What happened to _you?_"

"I... got in a bit of trouble with Lex Luthor and the Shadows," he said, taking a seat at the kitchen bench.

"Oh. Coffee?" Tash asked, stepping into the kitchen.

"Oh, yeah. please do."

After Tash made her and Roy cups of coffee, it was time they got some things straight.

"Okay. So, I'm afraid to tell you that... I am pregnant."

There was an awkward pause between them.

"Whoa..."

"Yeah. I know. My dad won't let me get an abortion because it's apparently something that he's just not prepared to do in the 21st century," Tash sighed. "I just don't know how I'm gonna explain all this to Yale. I mean, Harvard gave me a second chance... but there's absolutely no frickin' way that they're gonna accept me at this rate. And I've disappointed my dad, yet again."

"I'm really sorry, Tash. I ruined everything for you. God, you even have to go to _school_ carrying around another human being!" Roy said, clearly frustrated at all the stupid things he'd done.

"Roy, it's not... e_ntirely_ your fault. It's mainly mine. I'm the stupid one in this. I'm the one, that my father blames the most. Okay, I used to be in his good books, but now... I'm just an embarrassment."

There was more awkward silence.

"So... are you still my girlfriend?" Roy asked, his jaw tensing.

"What? Of course I am. I mean... who wouldn't?" Tash said, making her way around the kitchen counter to Roy.

They started kissing each other, Tash leaning on the counter top as-

"What the FUCK do you think you're DOING!?" It was Kat, who came back a lot earlier than expected.

Kat shook her head. "Oh... I come back twenty minutes early 'cause I have nothing better to do with my life except for go to Starbucks, and open my dad's apartment door, to see a frickin' redhead-donkey suck faces with my pregnant sister! What the FUCK!?" Kat ranted, holding her drink she got from the last ten minutes of getting out of the apartment.

"What drink did you get?" Roy asked with Tash leaning into him.

"A Grande Chai Tea Latte, 3 Pump, Skim Milk, Lite Water, No Foam, Extra Hot. The extra hotness hasn't even gone away yet because it's only been a few minutes after I actually got my drink. There was this massive fuckin' line and then there was this douchebag who was ordering the most complicated drink I've _ever_ heard. What a disrespectful prick," Kat ranted. Roy snickered, getting distracted by Tash.

"What did he order?" Tash smirked.

"He ordered a Tall Nonfat Latte, 2 Percent Foam. 2 _fucking_ percent for a _latte_... it sounds simple, but he's just a jerk under sheepskin," Kat said, narrowing her eyes at the thought of it.

"It sounds better than yours. How the hell can you get _lite water?_"

"It's easy. You just gotta ask for it. Now, if the pedophile boyfriend would like to make it out of this apartment alive, I suggest he leaves right now."

Roy sighed. "Fine. Might as well go before Captain America comes back to his princesses," and he whispered something in Tash's ear as he made his way out.

As soon as Roy closed the door, Kat glared her sister. "I fucking hate your boyfriend. And now that he's gonna become your _baby daddy?_ I hate him even more."

"You tell Dad about this, I swear I will tell _everyone_ at Happy Harbor that you are diagnosed with herpes. And STD's."

Kat still glared at her sister in annoyance. "You win this round, sis, but you've got a whole other threat coming your way."

Then all of a sudden, Kat's phone started ringing:

_"Move bitch, get out the way_

_Get out the way bitch, get out the way-"_

"Hey, Dad. How're things at the hospital? I mean, it can't be going too great seeming that I'm not there to save the day-"

"No, no. Everything's fine, you and Tash have to just stay at the apartment. Listen: I've gotta stay here until Brittany gains consciousness again, so can I please ask you and Natasha to stay put. Okay?" Steve ordered.

"Roger that."

"Okay, you two are safe at the apartment. Don't go travelling to Mount Justice or anywhere else, okay? Just _stay_ _put_."

"M'kay, Daddy."

And she ended the call.

"You're gonna leave, aren't you?" Tash asked.

"Hell yeah, I'm going! There's no way I'm 'staying put'. This is why I don't work as a waitress. I don't usually 'take orders'." And before Tash could say anything else, Kat was out the door.

"Great..." At that, Tash took out her phone and looked at the first ever selfie she took of her and Steve. She had her tongue sticking out whilst her dad had a very confused look on his face. Those days were gone.

* * *

Brittany was lying in yet again, another hospital bed. All she could see was darkness because her eyes were shut, obviously, but it also seemed that the lights in the room she was in were dimmed down a little bit.

All of a sudden, she heard voices:

"Her heart's still beating."

"Wow, Dad... HYDRA must _really_ hate you."

"When I get my hands on Fury, I swear I'll..."

"Tear him to pieces?"

"No, Joseph, that's against the law."

"Of course it is."

They were the voices of her brother and and her father.

"Nah, Dad. It would be a lot easier if you just tore him to shreds," Brittany said, her fluttered opened.

She could see Joe sitting by her side and her dad in mid-stride. He stopped and had a surprised look on his face.

"Y-you're awake!" And he walked over to give her a big, fatherly hug.

"O-okay, Dad- you're squeezing me - really, really tight-"

"Oh, right. Sorry. But - you're awake. How is this possible?" Steve asked, taking a seat on Brittany's other side.

"I - don't know. I mean, Madame Hydra _did_ say that I have an awesome immune system."

"What was the last thing you saw?"

"I... the last thing I saw was me getting pulverized by Madame Hydra and the whole ER was a _very_ big mess. There was shattered glass everywhere... um, there was a lot of sharp tools scattered on the floor so I had to stay on the bed... and, I didn't have enough strength to stick onto surfaces," Brittany explained, feeling ashamed.

"Britt, it's not your fault. I mean, if _I_ was trapped in a hospital ward and Madame Hydra was in there... she would've poisoned me with her mouth. And if you ever got up to asking Wolverine what that's like, he says it's like kissing a cactus - with horse shit," Joe chipped in.

"That's... really nice," Britt said with a confused and worried look on her face.

"...well, you missed out on your first day of school and the others had to miss out on their second. The principal is hoping that you'll make it by at least the end of this week," Steve said.

"Um... I reckon I'll be able to. I mean, I won't have to do anything majorly physical on my first day. I would probably drop unconscious again if I had to do cheer tryouts. But I might give something more simple a try. Like show choir."

"Show choir?" Joe asked, his eyebrows raised. "Kat would be furious if you broke the family tradition."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't do both," Britt said with a smirk.

Suddenly, Joe got a text:

**To: Asshole Brother  
**sep 08, 20:16 PM  
**BITCH: **HAVE YOU SEEN MY CAKE IN THE CAVE'S GALLEY ANYWHERE? SHIT! THE LAST TIME I HAD IT WAS AT DAD'S APARTMENT! I SWEAR I TOOK IT WITH ME AND NOW IT'S FRICKIN' GONE.

"Who was that?" Steve asked.

"It's Kat. I swear, she is _the_ dumbest bitch I know. She's not even at the apartment by the looks of it," Joe answered, clearly annoyed by his sister's thick-headedness.

Steve sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Can you please tell her to make her way back to the apartment and to NOT disobey my orders?"

**To: Bitch  
**sep 08, 20:17 PM  
**ASSHOLE BROTHER: **DAD SAID TO START MAKING YOUR WAY BACK TO HIS APARTMENT. HE DIDN'T MAKE ANY THREATS, BUT WHAT HE DID SAY WAS TO NOT DISOBEY HIS ORDERS.

As soon as he sent the message, it was like Kat had frickin' really been on speed.

**To: Asshole Brother  
**sep 08, 20:17 PM  
**BITCH: **SCREW YOU JOSEPH! :( :(

"Well... she's rude," Joe said, clicking his fingers in a sassy sort of way.

* * *

**Whoa, end of the chapter! Dat shiz was cray-cray. Now, I know what you're thinking: 'this is a story about Young Justice, not a sad family's life'. You will get more of the Team in the next, I hit needed one to tell you guys more about what's happening with Tash and Brittany so that you don't get as confused as I am... :s**

**So, thank you for the reviews guys, (I LOVE IT!) and don't forget about my three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	20. Joe Hates the Michaelsons

**Chapter 19: Joe Hates the Michaelsons**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 14, 08:15 EDT****  
**

"Kat, he's ugly! Plus he's a senior... gross."

"You can't tell me what to do when I clearly dominate this school already," Kat said, flipping her blonde pony tail, flaunting her 'flawless' complexions in the morning sun.

"Right..." Brittany said, rolling her eyes although, Kat couldn't see that.

It was Brittany's first week at Happy Harbor High. She had to miss out on the week before, due to her getting a broken neck whilst doing a side-mission for the Team. She was beginning to regret telling her dad that she was well enough to do normal heroic stuff again. This week, her only priorities had been to concentrate at getting used to her new school.

Kat was wearing her Bumblebee uniform, as she and Brittany walked along the front courtyard of the school. Britt was wearing a Peter Parker-esque outfit: a hoodie, jeans and Converse (Kat was giving her a break on the whole 'From now on, I'm buying your clothes' thing). Her Ray Bans were to remain on if Brittany wanted to maintain good eyesight without having to wear proper glasses as well. Also, to top it all off, she was wearing a neck brace due to her injury, so that was a definite turn-off for any cute boys.

"What's his name again?" Brittany asked, finding a spot under a tree (usually, she would climb up the tree, but she's got a sprained neck...), as some random cheerleader threw Kat a pair of black and yellow pom poms.

"Dane Michaelson. He's like, the hottest guy in school," Kat answered, sitting next to her little sister.

"Yeah, you used the term 'like'. Doesn't mean that he's actually hot."

"Shut your face."

All of a sudden, Joe ran up to them from his football group and had a happy look on his face.

"Hey guys - girls! Guess what?"

"What?" His sister's asked simultaneously.

"I'm on the football team!" he exclaimed in triumph, his arms wide open for a big hug from his sisters, but he ended up going down to hug them because Kat was too lazy to get up and Britt had trouble getting up by herself.

"Woo! What position do you play?" Britt asked.

"Unfortunately, I only got LB."

"What the fuck's LB?" Kat asked.

"Linebacker. Get your fucking facts right."

"What's wrong with Linebacker?"

"I wanted to become Quarterback. But your 'boyfriend' got it instead. He's such an asshole. I can't believe he beat me to it," Joe said, shaking his head, his hands on his hips. Kat scowled at her twin since she hated anyone who made fun of her 'future boyfriend'.

"But on the plus side, Linebackers are supposed to be fairly muscular and are great at tackling so... I think you'll be just fine. Besides, you'd get too many scholarships thrown at you if you're Quarterback. You won't know what to do when the time comes for you to choose a college or university," Brittany explained, as Kat rolled her eyes at her two siblings.

"Oh, my god. If you guys hate Dane that much, you can just say it. Jeez..." Kat intervened.

"I don't hate Dane Michaelson, I just think that he's as big-headed as any other dumb-jock there is - no offence Joe," Britt pointed out.

"None taken," Joe said, kicking the grass. He was wearing the Happy Harbor Hornets' letterman jacket along with a pair of jeans and sneakers... carrying only one book. That still annoyed Brittany.

"Well, I invited Wally, Robin, Artemis and Kaldur to Mount J' this afternoon," Kat said, getting up from the ground, and helping Brittany up.

"Um... why?" Britt asked, staying under the shade of the tree.

"Because, they're our friends. Tash decided to stay home today because apparently her baby bump started 'showing'. I don't think she'll be following Dad's rules and go to school from now on. Ever since that visit from Roy-"

"Wait. Tash got a visit from Roy?" Joe asked suspiciously.

"Since when? I thought they weren't allowed to see each other," Britt added.

"Shh! Pretend you didn't hear anything! I promised Tash not to tell anyone, but you guys made me say it," Kat said very quickly, looking around her to see if other people heard what she said.

"Uh... you're the one that brought it up, _genius_."

"Shit! Why is it that I can't tell you guys _anything?!_" And Kat stormed away from them both and went over to her cheerleader friends.

Brittany and Joe shared a look. They looked over at the star-Quarterback of the football team, as they both gave him a disgusted look.

"Fucking Dane Michaelson. Him and his brother can both die in a hole," Joe said.

"Whoa... wait. He has a brother?" Brittany asked, trying to spot a similar-looking Michaelson brother through the crowd.

"Yeah. I think his name's Justin. Justin Michaelson. He's such a little twerp. The both of them are," Joe pointed him out. Justin was wearing a Hornets' letterman jacket with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had the same short blonde hair as his brother and the same masculine complexion.

"He's... actually kinda cute." Britt said subconsciously.

"Pfft. He's 14 and an idiot. You do _not_ find that douche cute," Joe folded his arms, narrowing his eyes at the two Michaelson brothers.

"Oh, come on. I'm pretty sure he's a good guy to be around if you get to know him," Britt said, trying not to make it obvious that she was looking over at Justin. And of course, that plan failed and Justin saw the weird epileptic chick with a neck brace staring at him.

"Oh, god. He's coming this way. Quick, don't make me look like a total freak-show. Joe, help me out here!"

"Wha- why is he coming this way?! I don't wanna talk to him! That's nasty!"

"Stop, you're starting to sound like Kat."

"Shut it," As they both finished elbowing and nudging each other on who started to stare at Justin, the young footballer stood in front of the two siblings holding a football.

"Uh... hey. I saw you two looking over at our group and... I just couldn't help but come over to congratulate Joe at becoming LB," Justin said to the two siblings. "I'm sure you'll stop at nothing to help the Hornets win State this year," he pointed out to Britt's brother. Joe had a very annoyed look on his face. He wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Thanks... _dude,_" Joe answered.

"You're welcome, man. As for you..." Justin said, turning towards Brittany.

"...what about me?" She asked, trying not to look like an absolute retard.

"You can sit at out our table anytime," He answered, giving her a friendly smile; unlike his brother who seemed to scowl at every freshman he saw.

"Ha ha, she's fine-" Joe intercepted but Brittany cut him off.

"Sure. I'd be honored to sit with the you guys."

"Cool. And, don't start thinking that I sit with my brother. I actually sit with the freshmen guys." And he smiled at Brittany as he walked back over to the football jocks. Also among the crowd was Mal Duncan, who was probably looking out for a sign of Conner. Unfortunately for him, he's at Belle Reve with Miss Martian.

"I have a feeling that today's gonna be a good day. Don't you think, Joey?"

"Totally. Now let's get the hell out of here before I throw up in front of 'Large Asshole Michaelson'."

* * *

**COAST CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 14, 09:04 EST****  
**

It was a very rainy day, as Natasha walked through the streets of her favorite town: Coast City. It may not have been the best sight-seeing place to go, but it had a kick-ass aviation company owned by none other than Ferris Aircraft. The company was currently being run by the CEO, Carl Ferris: the father of his daughter, Carol.

Tash would usually go there to do various dog-fights with Hal or Carol but unfortunately, those days were gone. Tash was walking through pouring rain, wearing a designer raincoat along with matching boots. She was using her green lantern ring to form an umbrella since it started raining as she walked.

The main thing that seemed to be on her mind, was that she didn't want to face the fact that she was carrying another human being inside of her. The very thought of it made her want to puke. She didn't know what to think. She hadn't spoken to Roy since their conversation at her dad's apartment and she didn't know when she was gonna see him next.

If she had the chance to talk to Roy, he would've said the typical thing: that he's too busy fighting crime, or trying to figure out anything new happening with the League of Shadows. She didn't see why he would want to know what the Shadow's were up to when he clearly had a pregnant girlfriend.

She took out her phone and tapped on the one contact she knew that belonged to one of the only options she had left: Hal Jordan.

"Come on, pick up," Tash said. After three rings, Hal finally answered.

"Hello?" He asked.

"As if you don't know who this is Hal," Tash answered back, still frustrated about walking in the rain.

"Oh, hey, Tash. Nice to hear your lovely voice again. What's going on?"

"Um..." she said hesitantly, wondering if the call was going to make any difference in her life at all. "I just wanted to know if you still have any extra spots on the Justice League? I mean... I know that I'm pregnant and everything but, knowing that I'm _guaranteed_ not getting into Yale and definitely not Harvard... I can at least have a spot on the League when this whole thing is over," she begged, trying to sound sad in order to get sympathy out of Hal.

"Well, Tash... that's a really big request to make at the moment. I mean, as you've already pointed out, you are in fact preggers. Secondly, you've only been on the Team for about two to three months. You still need to settle into Mount Justice, plus you have siblings to take care of. If I were you, I'd say I would have a pretty busy life as it is," he explained.

"Hal... can you please - just at least save me a spot on the League? Until this is all over, when I'm back on my feet, at Yale... that's if they'd still wanna accept me afterwards."

"Tash - honestly, you're part of the reason why my job is so hard. You can't really count on me to get you on the League. You're gonna have to talk to Batman, or even better: Superman. Other than that, the only thing I can do for you is to attempt at giving you brownie points. I don't know what good or heroic thing you can do when you're pregnant but... I can most definitely try."

"Well... really? You'd actually try even though I have a 99.9% chance of not getting into the League even if I wasn't preggo?" Tash asked, as she stopped in the middle of the rain with all of these thoughts running through her mind, she almost forgot about her make-shift umbrella. "I don't know what to say other than..."

"'Thanks for trying, Hal! You're the bestest, most gorgeous mentor in the entire universe!'" Hal said in a really bad impression of Tash's voice.

"Thanks, Hal. I'll see you later, when 'bestest' is actually classified as a word," she said with a load of sarcasm in her voice and ended the call.

It was gonna be a _long_ week.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 14, 15: 25 EDT****  
**

"Wally. I gave you _one_ box. It was family-sized too. If I were you, I would _not_ be banking on eating _another_ one. Is that clear?"

"Come on, Kat. Sharing is caring-"

"IS. THAT. CLEAR?" Kat said, inching closer to Wally's face, giving him a scary face with her cat-like eyes.

"Yep," Wally gulped, speeding off into the living room.

"Good," she said brightly, getting back to normal.

"Kat, it's literally _just_ Oreos. You can get them at almost any existing store," Brittany said, as her and Robin took a seat at the bench.

"That doesn't matter. What does matter, is that Wally doesn't touch/consume my stuff," Kat said, glaring at Wally, who looked back at her with wide eyes. It seemed like they were having a staring competition. They didn't blink _once_.

After their little staring competition, Kat and Wally put on a movie and made popcorn whilst Kaldur and Joe sat down, talking about Atlantean politics (as to that, no one knew why). Artemis made her way into the kitchen and stood opposite from Brittany and Robin.

"So... are you guys a couple or something...?" She hesitantly asked, leaning on the bench in a casual manner, trying not to look too interested in the matter.

"Um..." Robin started, looking sideways at Brittany, trying to read her expression under her sunglasses. "Not... exactly."

"No," Brittany said, trying to look downwards, but her neck brace kept her face up. She avoided looking at Robin's face, clearly sensing the tension that one question could make.

"Yeah, I don't think it's gonna happen. You see, today Britt decided to flirt with Justin Michaelson," Joe interrupted, looking up from the couch.

"You mean the younger brother of Dane? Ha! Good try, sis. No offence, but I don't think you're quite old enough yet to be dating a heart breaker. Both Justin and Robin are two very great examples of that," Kat cut in, carrying a bowl of popcorn whilst Wally carries another two.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Robin asked.

"You know what I mean, _twerp,_" she snarked back, with a mouthful of popcorn.

Robin looked back at Brittany. "Who's Justin?" He said quietly so only she could hear. Artemis had decided to go into the living room to leave the awkwardness behind.

"Hey, you guys watching the movie?" Wally called, spitting popcorn all over Kat's face.

"No, you guys go ahead," Brittany called, trying to turn her head but just ended up turning her whole body around.

She saw Robin's face, still expecting an answer from her.

"He's just a guy that I met at school. No biggie," she said, as if her and Robin were having a normal conversation. This would've been considered normal if they weren't two young heroes wearing sunglasses constantly.

"Really? That's all you're gonna tell me? That he's just from school?... you like this guy," Rob urged on.

"Well, what does it matter to you anyways? You're not my boyfriend. You don't get a say in what I do. Although, you are my only friend that knows what it's like when afternoons look like night times and mornings look like afternoons..."

"That's getting completely off the point here! I thought we- you and I... had something."

"Robin... we - we do. It's just, I don't think a naïve, epileptic 13-year old girl like me wearing a neck brace, would have any chance at dating the Boy Wonder. See, you're practically a legend... I'm just Spider-Girl," she said, half-way in between laughs.

"Yeah, but that's what makes you stand out from other girls. You're exceptional," Robin said, taking Brittany's hand, trying to figure out what emotions were hiding behind those glasses.

"I'm just a girl from Brooklyn," she said in a disappointed, non-hopeful tone, pulling her hand away from Robin's.

Robin looked down at the floor, trying not to show his face full of disappointment.

"But... I'd date you in like, I don't know... five years time," and immediately, Robin's face lit up with something that could've only been excitement.

"Whoa - really?" He asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.

"Well, yeah. If you don't get another girlfriend by then, I might," and at that, he gave her a really big hug. He quickly let go of her, knowing that he well could've broken her neck. Again.

"Guys! It's Rise of the Planet of the Apes! James Franco is in this! He's frickin' hot - OW!" Kat said, as everyone else in the living room kept throwing popcorn at her.

"I'm gonna go watch the movie," Britt said quickly.

"Ditto," Robin agreed and they both rushed over to the others, Brittany sitting in between Kaldur and Joe. She decided that sitting next to Robin would most likely make Kat throw him out of a window or something (ironic, because there were no windows in a mountain).

The people that surrounded her, felt like her family, and she didn't want to make that seem any less true by dating Robin. Plus, she was pretty sure that Robin wouldn't stand a _chance_ against Captain America. But, she knew that there was still ope for something to happen between them.

* * *

**End of the chapter! I hope you liked that chapter, I made my friend read it and she laughed and that made me feel extra happy about this one :D **

**Also 'just saying', there are maybe a couple of things in this chapter that will make sense in Book 2 (yes, I have planned that far already, I mean... Who doesn't?), so if you were reading and you know you are a hardcore YJ fan, there are maybe like, one or two key words that will tie in with Book 2 (Season 2). Of course, I will include some hints during this story to help connect with my next one (again, I have planned way ahead of time), and if you found the words, point them out!**

**If you're looking forward to a second story based on the Summer/Rogers family (again, I would just call it the Summer family but yet again, I've got something planned with Book 2!), please feel free to review me any new book titles, ideas and maybe some new characters that you'd like to get credit for in the next story. The reason why I refer to FanFiction stories as books, is because I get used to reading Wattpad but honestly, I tried publishing this story on there, and it got like NO ****_views_****, which was pretty sad.**

**Therefore, I'd like to thank you guys for not ignoring this story. Honestly, I think that the next one will a lot better. I also don't know what it will be rated, probably 'High T' again because I ain't into writing that sorta 'stuff', but there will be moments where the Team has grown up and everyone starts doing weird shiz... :o But, I'll let you guys be the deciders.**

**Sorry this author's note is so long, but I'd just like to give a huge thank you to the people that still review this story, even though it's kinda lost all its... Wow Factor! (I don't even know).**

**SO! Enough with the chit-chat, don't you forget these three R's: READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Have a nice night/day wherever you are and... Happy Reading! ;)**


	21. Kat Helped Joe

**Chapter 20: Kat Helped Joe**

**HAPPY HARBOR  
****SEPTEMBER 22, 1:05 EDT****  
**

The bell rang for lunch to start, when suddenly a loud bang came from down the school hallway. As Brittany came out of her science classroom, she saw what had happened: the loud bang that everyone heard had come from Mal Duncan shoving her brother into a row of lockers.

Joe got smashed, and fell to the floor. He quickly got back up and wrestled Mal against the other row of lockers. Mal went and punched Joe on his right jawline, which quickly began to bruise. Joseph staggered back a bit, but then quickly kicked Mal's shin... hard. Then they even did worse: they cursed at each other.

"I said APOLOGIZE!" shouted Mal, punching Joe in the face.

"Why don't you go suck someone's dick, you frickin' liar!" Joe retaliated, as a few people in the crowd went 'ooh...'

At that, Mal shoved the both of them on the floor as they started to wrestle each other.

"You can't make me apologize for something I didn't even do, asshole!" Joe exclaimed.

A big group of people had crowded around the scene, Brittany being at the front, with Megan and Conner. Conner had the urge to join the fight but Megan was telepathically telling him to remain calm.

As the fight went on, some people started chanting, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" The people who were actually civilized wanted the fight to stop. But the rest were just standing there, being very unhelpful bystanders. Some if them were even taking photos and videoing the whole thing.

But, there was one person who had appeared in the scene and decided to do something about the situation: it was Kat.

"No, Kat, don't!" Brittany shrieked, as Kat shoved her stuff into Brittany's arms, as she dived into the action.

Kat used her super-soldier strength and slammed Mal into the lockers, making a dent in them.

"No one hits my brother like that except me, idiot!" And she slapped the shiz-nizzle out of Mal's face.

"Kat, this isn't your fight!" Joe yelled at his sister.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you seem to be doing a great job at beating this guy up!" she yelled back, gesturing towards Mal.

"I'm not afraid of you All-American Goody-Two-Shoes!" Mal said, wiping blood off his forehead.

But before Mal could do anything more, both Joe and Kat grabbed him and said, "No one calls us All-American Goody-Two Shoes, EXCEPT US!" And shoved him to the ground. They then both give each other a high-five, as the principal and Lucas Carr walk into the scene. The both of them didn't have very happy looks on their faces.

The principal spoke in a deadly, but seemingly calm voice, "Mal, go to the nurse's office. As for you two... you're coming with me."

Kat gave Joe an annoyed look, as they watched Mal stagger up and walk towards the nurse's office.

The principal had then realized the big crowd standing in the hallway.

"Everyone, get to lunch! NOW!" And everyone scattered in the same direction towards the cafeteria. "You two," he gestured towards the twins.

As the three of them walked to the principal's office, the twins got a bunch of stares from people who were either walking past and slowed down to stare, or people who were trying to look busy at their lockers but were really just uploading footage onto the internet.

When they finally arrived at the office, the principal ordered them to sit as he sat down in his majestic-looking office chair.

The principal was expecting the two siblings to hang their heads down in shame, but instead, Joe and Kat just sat up straight and looked at him intently, waiting for him to say something.

"Well... I hope the both of you know the seriousness of this situation. Now, not only is it a bad image for Happy Harbor High, but this a bad image to younger students as well. You, as sophomores, are supposed to be a good example of behavior and freshmen cannot get the bad idea of what good behavior is supposed to be.

"I do know that you two are new here. It's only, what? Your third week of school? So, to Happy Harbor standards, you still have a lot to catch up on since you are sophomores. But never, in my years as acting principal, have I seen such violence!"

"But sir, Mal started it-" Joe began.

"No buts, Joseph. In situations like these, I don't care who started what," and that's when Joe put his head down in shame. "As for you, _Kat_. Is that what they call you? I realize that you were only trying to help your brother in this whole debacle, but retaliating back is NOT the way to handle things around here," he scolded Kat, but she still sat up straight, with that Cat Girl gleam in her eyes (it's the cool effect that goes along with her eyeliner and mascara).

"Well, _sir_. Is that what they call you? What else were we supposed to do? Please, don't give me any of that 'you should've told the nearest teacher or older student' crap, because A: all of the teachers, excluding Mr. Carr, are complete A-holes and B: all the older students were busy screaming for more violence, or they were taping the whole thing. So _sir_, I don't think you should be blaming us at all for our actions," Kat complained, her arms crossed, still looking stern and serious.

"Miss Summer, I never-"

"Well, now you have. So, if you don't mind; my brother and I have some hotdogs, tater tots, pepperoni pizza, a basket of jalapeño poppers, some chicken nuggets, a ketchup boat, three potato pancakes, some creamsicles, two quesadillas, a bread loaf, a side of ranch, some pixie sticks, a taco salad, an order of ribs, and... a diet-coke - to devour."

"We've had a big day," Joe intervened.

"And we _hungry_. Now, sorry sir, this won't happen again. 'Cause I'm starving." And Kat made her way to the door, Joe following up, trying not to make eye contact with the principal.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 22, 19:27 EDT****  
**

"You did _what?!_ Kat, that is so bad! Are you trying to end up like those popular kids that are so 'effing great' in high school, but when it comes to the real world, they end up homeless on the street?" Tash lectured her younger sister, completely forgetting the fact that Joe was the main cause of all this.

"Whatever, _Juno_. I'm not scared of what you have to say to me," Kat answered back, her arms folded.

They were in the Cave's hangar, along with Joe, Brittany, Aqualad, Miss M, Superboy up until 2.3 seconds later, Wally.

"Forget it. What about you, Joseph, hm? Why on earth would you punch him? I mean, I know he thinks he's 'all that', but that doesn't mean you have to go all out Havok 2.0 on his ass. That's stupid. So, you're gonna tell me now: what happened?" Tash said sternly, edging towards her brother who looked even more ashamed to be talking about the situation with his sister than his principal.

"He bumped me," he said simply.

"And you hit him?" Brittany asked, rubbing her neck brace as if to feel if it would protect her from a similar situation.

"No. He bumped me, then he asked me to apologize. _Then_ I hit him."

"I mean, _really_. Is it that difficult just to get up and walk away?" Tash asked, her hands on her hips. Really, it wasn't a very good idea to make a pregnant girl mad when she already had a heap of hormones going through WWIII in her body.

"Well, last time I checked; Dad doesn't like bullies-"

"Yeah, he never said he tried to beat them up single-handedly just for a little hallway-apology."

"He didn't beat him up single-handedly, he had _me!_ I frickin' _smashed_ Mal Duncan into Wendy Harris' locker! And... I think she's still pissed about that," Kat said, turning her whole point of the story into something totally different.

"Well, if this situation doesn't get handled sooner or later, I'm hoping that your father will-" Kaldur began, but that was all that he could say because in between his sentence, a massive explosion had hit the Cave's walls, causing everyone to start panicking.

"What the _shit!?_" Kat said, unravelling her whip from her waist holder.

"Duck!" Superboy shouted as everyone did. As they ducked, two flying figures came through the big explosion in the wall.

The two figures seemed to be robotic - and red.

"Holy crap- they look like Red Tornado!" Joe exclaimed, hiding behind Sphere.

"Superboy! You think you can sniff out where they came from!?" Britt shouted from behind Supey's motorcycle.

"All I can smell is mechanics! And hairballs!" He shouted back.

"Hey!" Kat yelled, giving him her cat-glare.

"Oh, sorry for not introducing ourselves. I'm Red Torpedo," the supposedly, male robot said. "And this is my sister, Red Inferno," he gestured to the female android.

"Oh no, no, no. _Fuck_ that! I don't want anymore heartless droids in my life!" And Kat tried to whiplash Red Inferno, but her weapon only got burnt.

To be continued...

* * *

**That's the end of this chapter! Obviously, since it says 'to be continued...', I want to write some more fighting and adventurous stuff in my story. I honestly haven't done that since the robot monkey/AMAZO ones, which you guys seemed to like.**

**So, I hope you liked that chapter, I my have used some lines from a certain mini-web series and I must add: I do not own any of that content. (It's basically just what Kat tells the principal what her and Joe were gonna have for lunch)**

**Any who, please do not forget my three R's (yes, I'm still going on with this): READ, REVIEW &amp; REMEMBER!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**


	22. Red Fiasco

**Hello everybody! I am so, so, so, so, so SORRY for this excruciatingly late update. I got caught up with doing other things, it was recently Christmas and I'm getting ready for school next year. I hope you guys don't hate me for doing this so late. Don't hate me. Please.**

**Anyways, to make this short, I will try to make my chapters longer so that the updates aren't such a short waste of your time (I don't know if this update was any longer, but, oh well). For those of you who like the idea of Robin and Spidey-Girl being a pair please let me know. If not, I've got a back-up plan that would be worth it anyway. Also, tell me if you'd like to ship Nightwing with Spider-Girl. If not, I've also got a back-up plan for that. **

**I really want to get up to Book 2 already. I really do. Yes, there is a mole on the Team. No, I will not tell you what's going to happen to Roy and Tash's relationship beforehand. You're just gonna have to read future chapters when they get updated (because I'm evil).**

**SO, I hope you like this chapter. I hope it's better than the last ones I did. I went back and edited some of the past chapters I did, and realized I was sooo bad at writing in past tense. Happy Reading, guys! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 21: Red Fiasco**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 22, 19:43 EDT****  
**

"Help! Help! Somebody!" That was the small voice of Brittany.

Since the Team's encounter (excluding Artemis and Robin) with the androids, Red Torpedo and Red Inferno, things around the Cave have been a _bit _different than how things were usually spent on a Thursday night.

"Why is nobody helping me!?" Brittany yelped. She was currently hanging off the ceiling, holding herself up with her hands. The rest of her body, aside from her head, was dangling below, just seconds away from dropping.

"Maybe, just maybe, it's because we have _other_ shit to deal with, Brittany!" shouted Kat from down below. Having gotten wrapped in her own whip, looking like a rattle-snake, Brittany couldn't blame her for being so pissed.

"Right. Never mind! But, just saying; I don't think I can hold this for much longer!" and the reason why Brittany was too scared to move anywhere else, was because there was water everywhere, flooding everyone and everything in the Cave. That led to there being smoke and steam, which led to wet, non-sticking surfaces. That was pretty bad for Brittany because that way, her powers were useless.

The others were scattered everywhere else. Superboy and Kid Flash were stuck in these weird, molten rock-things that they couldn't move out of set by Red Torpedo. Aqualad and Miss Martian were stuck in a fire cage set by Red Inferno (yeah, Kaldur's weakness was obvious; yet nobody knew that M'gann's fatal weakness was fire). Joe, however, was blasting at Red Torpedo. Red Inferno was busy heating up the place, making it hard for anyone to breathe.

* * *

Robin and Artemis had entered the vicinity just in time to see Joe get blasted out of the air with the help of Red Inferno. Tash, however, was nowhere to be found.

The pair made their way through the Cave's security systems and got flooded by Red Torpedo. They quickly escaped in time to reach the surface, entering the Cave's hangar, where the others were.

Kid Flash was first to notice them.

"Look out!" Wally shouted.

Red Inferno was blazing wherever Artemis and Robin went. The two quickly dived underneath and swam over to Kid Flash and Superboy. Joe was knocked unconscious, near Aqualad and Miss Martian's fire cage.

"You guys okay?" Robin asked.

"Forget us. Help M'gann," Superboy argued.

The four looked up at the fire cage almost enveloping Aqualad and Miss Martian.

"Aqualad! Is she—" Artemis called.

"She is unconscious," Aqualad answered, drenched in sweat. He was holding M'gann. "I fear she – we cannot survive much longer."

Suddenly, Red Inferno flew over to the group of four to blast them with her fire powers. Robin and Artemis quickly dived down again and swam up to the staircase. They got surrounded by the two androids.

"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis urged, already aiming an explosive arrow at Red Inferno.

"Distract her, now," Robin ordered, as he took on Red Torpedo.

Meanwhile, attempting to crawl across the heated ceiling was Spider-Girl, who noticed Artemis and Robin escape under the surface again.

"Hey!" she yelled, but instead got the attention of the two robots. "Crap."

She swung her way down towards the water. She narrowly escaped a blast from Red Inferno when she quickly dived to where Robin and Artemis were going.

Artemis and Robin both swam up to the nearest drain pipe. They got up and gasped for air.

"_Six minutes_"," Red Torpedo announced. He had been timing their actions left before their team mates got burned and drowned.

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, as Spider-Girl landed in the pipe with them from the water. "Brittany! How did you find us?"

"How didn't we find _you?_" Robin asked looking at the burn marks Red Inferno gave Brittany.

"I was up on the ceiling – well, _barely_. I couldn't hold on for much longer. Kat's tied up in her own whip, so that isn't good. KF and Supes are being held in molten rock. Miss M and Aqualad are trapped in a fiery cage and now Joe's unconscious. Do we have a plan?" Brittany said, wringing her ponytail from all the water.

"We save them. That's how it works," Robin answered.

"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots already took out our six superpowered friends, excluding the one who could manage to take off a neck brace and swim up here," Artemis protested.

"Hey, I heal faster than the average human. Along with my spider powers and Super Soldier abilities, I'd say I'm pretty whelmed," Brittany said, looking over at Robin, who smirked.

"And you have epilepsy!" Artemis retorted, gesturing to Brittany's lenses in her mask.

"You seem distraught," Robin said with a small smile etched on his face.

"Distraught? M'gann is dying. We have no powers that will help us in this situation. And I'm down to my last arrow. Of course I'm distraught," Artemis proclaimed, waving her last arrow in Robin's face.

"Well, get traught, or get dead," Robin said in the same tone as Artemis.

"Guys," Brittany started.

"How can you be so calm?" Artemis asked.

"Practice. Been doing this since I was nine," Robin answered. He started to crawl along the pipe. The two girls followed behind.

"What good is that now?" Artemis questioned. "What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?"

"Oh, duh… they're machines," Robin stopped and looked back at the girls. "And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."

"That's right," Brittany agreed. "I remember having to do that once with Doctor Octopus. It wasn't exciting, but it shut him down."

"Great. Except one of you's better have an EMP emitter in your utility belts, because I know I don't have one in my quiver," Artemis pointed out.

"I'm fresh out," Robin responded.

"I don't usually use my utility belt for uncertain electronics. Only for the important stuff," Brittany stated.

"But," Robin noted, "I'm betting we can make one. What do you say KF?" Robin talked to his comm. "Doable?"

"_Totally doable_," Kid answered.

"_Five minutes_," Red Torpedo reminded.

"_You know, if you had more time_," Kid obliged.

The three protégés moved along the pipe out into another room.

"_Med lab. X-ray machine_," KF instructed. "_Find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high-energy pulses. Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from x-rays to EMPs with a cascading energy vector directed outward._"

"How do you know all this, KF?" Brittany asked into her comm.

"_I listen in science_," Wally answered.

"Right. Robin, what's next?"

"A ripple effect. Like dropping a stone in a pond," Robin explained.

"_A stone with 10 to the 12__th__ power wattage,_" Wally added.

"Yeah. So I need to hook it up to the Cave's main generator," Robin decided.

"Which is where?" Artemis asked.

* * *

The Reds walked over to the fire cage Aqualad and Miss Martian were in.

"_Four minutes_," Red Torpedo declared.

Joe still had not gained consciousness and Kat had fainted from all of the heat enveloping her whip.

Robin, Artemis and Spider-Girl got out of the med lab and escaped from an air vent. They silently stepped into the open entrance of the hangar.

"Okay, make with the distraction," Robin ordered.

Down below, Kid Flash and Superboy used their loud mouths to distract the two androids from the other trio.

"Hey, Red Tomato, who's your girlfriend? Red Onion?" Wally exclaimed.

"Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever," Superboy played along. "We can escape anytime we want."

"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two," Wally bragged.

The three young heroes' up-top started their plan.

"Cover me," Robin told the two girls.

"And you can't drown a Kryptonian, dumb-bots," Kid Flash called from down below.

"We don't breathe air," Conner continued.

Robin grappled and swung himself over to the Cave's main generator and started hacking into the main-frame.

Kid Flash cackled with laughter, still distracting the two robots. "And Miss Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act."

"Rerouting power now." Robin whispered into his comm.

"Yeah, do you know how hot it gets in the caves of Mars?" Superboy ranted.

"It's not working," Robin whispered.

"That cage is just making her homesick," Conner kept ranting.

"Duh! Ha, ha!" KF laughed.

"The circuit's incomplete," Robin said. "I need something conductible, a piece of metal—"

"Robin, look out!" Spider-Girl shouted.

Wally and Conner's act had achieved nothing since a whole wave of water got doused onto Robin, drowning him.

The robots had noticed Spider-Girl and Artemis. Red Inferno shot a blast of fire near Artemis. She panicked and aimed her last arrow at Red Torpedo, only for it to be a miss.

"Oh, no." Brittany quipped, as Red Inferno started blasting fire at them again. "Quickly, fall back."

Artemis and Spider-Girl went back through the vent they came from, narrowly missing Red Inferno's fire. The two girls crawled back along, and came across a small split in the pipe to see Red Torpedo lifting a drowned Robin in a column of water.

Artemis slowly shrank back against the other side of the pipe. The look on her face was inevitably frightened. Brittany sat along the wall, attempting to comfort her.

"No. No, no, no." Artemis whimpered, crawling into a ball.

"Artemis," Brittany put an arm around her friend. "Don't worry. Things are gonna work out."

"No, they won't."

"Trust me. Robin said we only needed a piece of metal to conduct the energy. Of course, I can't exactly provide us with that since the only metal I have on me are my web-slingers."

"I surrender. We'll die with the others."

"No," Brittany said firmly. Artemis continued crawling along the pipe, Brittany following suite. Suddenly, the two girls fell and slid down the rest of the pipe, falling out the other end.

"_Three minutes_," Red Torpedo warned.

"Crap. Quickly, we have to do something," Brittany urged, helping Artemis up from the floor. They both fell into the Cave's souvenir room.

"Who am I kidding? The best I can do is hide," Artemis groaned.

"That is not true. If you keep saying that to yourself, we'll never save the others. Not even Tash is here…crap! Tash! I completely forgot about her!" Spider-Girl whined.

"_One minute_," Red Torpedo announced.

"Artemis, we have to do something, or else we're all toast," Brittany kept on.

Artemis took one look at her friend and looked over at the souvenir arrow Wally had collected on a past mission.

"I've got a plan," Artemis sighed.

"Good. Then let's go before our minute is over."

* * *

Artemis and Spider-Girl took the elevator down to the hangar to meet with the Reds.

"We surrender. Stop the clock," Artemis requested.

Aqualad turned around in the fire cage and looked up to see both girls standing up to the red androids.

Artemis then jumped up and kicked Red Torpedo in the face whilst Spider-Girl swung her way around Red Inferno, but the droid punched her across the ground, leaving her weak and unable to get up. Artemis quickly strung her arrow and let go, aiming for the main generator. The metal tip of the arrow hit the generator, causing a huge circular wave of high-energy pulses to emit, shutting down the Reds.

The fire cage around Miss Martian and Aqualad decimated and the water drowning Wally and Conner drained itself.

"Kaldur! How's M'gann?" Conner exclaimed.

Kaldur groaned and attempted to get up.

"She breathes. I believe she will recover. What of the others?"

Artemis ran over to Robin, over to Brittany, Kat and Joe.

"They're all breathing too," Artemis said with a hint of joy in her voice.

Artemis pulled up Brittany and walked over to Robin.

"Way to get traught," Robin coughed.

"Whoa. How are we gonna explain all this to Batman? He's bound to tell Catwoman of my lousiness and I won't get to do another heist for at least two weeks," Kat complained, unravelling herself from her whip, as well as helping her brother up from the ground.

Brittany helped Robin up from the ground. "Does anyone know where Tash is?"

Nobody could find an answer for that.

* * *

"Figured my only shot was to surrender, pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out though," Robin explained, as everyone had gathered around him, with Tash still missing.

"M'gann…" Conner took Miss Martian's hand in his.

"I'll be fine," M'gann reassured, holding onto Aqualad for support.

Artemis was holding the vircator as everyone else remained calm, except for Wally.

"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally complained.

"It's not working, genius. EMP shuts down all machines, remember?" Artemis fired back.

"All machines present at the time," said a robotic voice from above.

It was Red Tornado.

"What has occurred?" he asked.

"Had a little visit from your family," Brittany said, looking at the fallen androids.

"Your extremely nasty family," Kat scoffed.

"I was not aware I had relations," Red Tornado responded.

"Where've you been?" Joe asked, annoyed at the whole situation.

"Monitor duty on the Watchtower," Tornado answered. "When it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your zeta tubes were also non-functional. I transported to Providence and proceeded here."

Tornado walked over to the fallen androids, as Sphere flew out of where crashed into the wall and over to the Team.

"Hey, boy." Superboy greeted weakly.

Artemis attempted to blast the vircator at Sphere, but it only blasted for half a second.

"The pulse has worn off," Robin and Wally said simultaneously.

Red Tornado zapped Red Torpedo's hand and an energy current had flown between the two, making Tornado turn against the Team.

Tornado began sucking the air out of the hangar, making it hard for everyone to breathe, even Superboy. Everyone quickly ran out of air and eventually became unconscious.

* * *

"Artemis? Artemis, can you hear me?" It was the voice of Superman.

Artemis slowly opened her eyes to see the big man in blue.

"She's alright," Superman reassured.

He went and helped her up from the ground where she'd fallen. She looked around to see Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Black Canary and even Captain America standing around, looking after the Team.

"What happened here?" Superman asked.

"What happened?" Artemis asked sarcastically. "The Reds happened. Tornado and his— wait, where are they?"

"Gone," Robin said, turning around to face Artemis, "all three of them. Gone."

"There's someone else who's missing here," added Captain America. "Where's Natasha?"

"The last time I saw her, she fled the Cave," Wally answered.

"She couldn't have, you know…" Brittany said, looking up at her father, as he put his arm around her.

"We don't know. For all we know, she could've escaped just in the nick of time, but she could've also…" Robin informed.

"No… NO!" Kat shrieked, falling to ground.

Everyone stayed still, not wanting to think of the possibilities.

* * *

**Woo! That's Chapter 21 for you. I'm sorry that updating this was so painstakingly long, I just got really distracted with school and writing other stories. **

**And yes, I still am planning a sequel for this story. It will come through, I promise, I just don't know when. **

**I suppose this is probably the world's worst YJ story in history due to its hiatus since August (apparently) and for that, I am terribly, terribly sorry for those who are still following or they've favourited this story. **

**Please review, and tell me what you think. Have I gotten better? Have I gotten worse? I don't know, you tell me.**

**So, until next time, folks. Take care! Captain America loves you!**

**Happy Reading! ;)**

**P.S.: I don't know whether to make this a Marvel crossover with Young Justice. Please let me know about that as well. :'D**


	23. Two Words: Gorilla Lice

**GUYS!**

**I REALLY NEED AN ANSWER FROM YOU GUYS ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE IT'S SUPER IMPORTANT! HERE'S THE QUESTION:**

**Do you like SpiderBird (Brittany and Robin) as a couple? **

**IF SO, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ANSWER MEH! THE REASON WHY I'M ASKING YOU THIS, IS BECAUSE I'M INTRODUCING ZATANNA SOON AND I NEED TO KNOW IF YOU SHIP 'CHALANT'. IN ALL HONESTY, I DO ****NOT**** SHIP CHALANT. I'M SORRY TO THOSE THAT DO; I JUST REALLY DO NOT LIKE THEM. **

**SO PLEASE REVIEW OR PM ME IF YOU THINK THAT SPIDERBIRD/SPIDERWING SHOULD HAPPEN, BECAUSE THIS IS THE FATE OF THE END OF THE STORY, AND THIS IS PRETTY IMPORTANT FOR BOOK 2. (If not, I've still got a method on how to write Book 2, but STILL).**

**PLEASE RAISE YOUR OPINION ON THIS. I'M SORRY FOR PESTERING YOU. Now read on. ;D**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Two Words: Gorilla Lice**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 23, 06:34 EDT****  
**

"_Synchronizing cave security protocols with Watchtower mainframe_."

At the Cave, the Team, Green Arrow and Black Canary were sitting down, going over what had happened with the Reds, and were currently reminiscing Green Lantern Girl's disappearance.

Green Arrow gingerly placed a bowl of pretzels in front of Kat and Wally.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Wally gloated, resting his head on his arms.

"Ditto," Kat agreed, doing the same.

"Yeah. What we want are answers about Red Tornado, his siblings and why Green Lantern Girl's gone missing," Robin pointed out.

"Exactly," KF agreed, as GA went to pick up the pretzels. "Leave the bowl."

Superboy was standing up, watching the conversation between Batman and Aqualad a short distance away from their table. That was when Superboy and Spider-Girl's sharp hearing came in handy. Spidey stood next to Conner as they both listened.

"_It was during the Taipei mission with Red Arrow. Sportsmaster revealed the possibility of a mole within the team. In light of last night's attack, Tornado would appear to be the traitor. Though whether he betrayed us willingly or was pre-programmed is still—_" Aqualad began.

"You knew?" Superboy cut him off, running up to Kaldur and shoving him backwards. "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann."

M'gann flew over to the two boys. "Conner, what are you doing?"

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!" Conner yelled.

"You knew?" Robin asked.

"And didn't tell us?" Wally said.

"I sought to protect the Team from—" Kaldur began.

"From what?" Kat intervened, a scowl clearly written on her face. "Knowledge that might have saved our lives? Saved me from getting rope-burn?"

"You almost died," Conner aimed at Miss Martian.

"Enough." Batman stepped forward.

Conner let go of Kaldur.

Batman continued, "With Red Tornado and Green Lantern Girl missing, the Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift." He gestured towards a burly looking man wearing a red and gold outfit, fitted with a white side-cape.

"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," Captain Marvel smiled.

"Oh, brother. Another adult who's gonna try and relate to us," Joe murmured reluctantly, as Kat elbowed him in the ribs.

Superboy turned on Aqualad. "After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna—"

Batman walked over to the pair. "Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League. That makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us." He turned the focus to the computer's holo-screen. "I have another assignment for this team."

The screen showed different newspaper articles from certain villain-like events.

"Gotham Mayor attacked by guerilla gorilla," Wally chimed in, reading off the screen.

_[Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?] _Superboy thought through their mind link.

"Batman, please, tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase," Robin queried.

"I never joke about the mission." Batman growled.

Robin lowered his head in shame.

"I've checked the sources. I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents," Batman turned to Kaldur. "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out." Kaldur nodded in return.

The rest of the Team walked past him to get ready.

"Heh. 'Your team.'" Wally stalked past.

Later on, the Team started boarding the Bio Ship. Superboy scolded Sphere to go back into the Cave, as Robin, Spider-Girl and Kid Flash met up with Captain Marvel.

"You're coming with?" Brittany asked the older hero.

"Sure. We'll have a blast," Captain Marvel replied cheerily, making his way into the Bio Ship.

"Translation; he blames us for Red Fiasco. He doesn't trust us," Robin said to the other two.

Aqualad made his way to the trio. The three gave him pointed glares.

"It's a big club," KF commented, as the four went into the Bio Ship.

* * *

**NORTHERN INDIA  
****SEPTEMBER 23, 21:36 IST****  
**

The Bio Ship made its way to India, landing in a clearing with Robin, Artemis, Cat Girl and Spider-Girl landing first.

"All clear," Robin confirmed.

"Switch to stealth," Aqualad ordered, making his armour turn black, "and we'll review mission parameters."

"Parameters?" Kid Flash asked accusingly, tapping his chest to switch to stealth. "We don't need no stinking parameters."

"It's recon. We know what to do," Robin said in annoyance.

"Kid, Robin." Aqualad reasoned.

"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us," Robin argued.

"Or did you forget that, like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Kid Flash shot.

And the two of them ran off to do their part of the mission.

"Come on, I'll keep you safe," Superboy said, taking Miss Martian's arm, but she yanked it off of him.

_[You're my boyfriend, not my keeper. Stop behaving like a character from a '70s sitcom.] _Miss Martian thought.

"I just wanna protect you," Superboy confessed.

"Like Aqualad protected us?" Artemis said, alongside Cat Girl and Havok.

"I'm not so sure your 'protection' or your patronizing is good for our health, Soup Boy," Kat said, pointing one of her sharp claws at Conner's chest. At that, she, Artemis, M'gann and Joseph walked away, leaving Superboy, Spider-Girl, Aqualad and Captain Marvel by the Bio Ship.

"Why didn't you stop them? You're supposed to be in charge," Superboy reckoned.

"I am—" Aqualad started, but Conner just put his hand up to silence him, and super-jumped off somewhere other than their clearing. The only ones left were Spider-Girl, Aqualad and Captain Marvel.

"Um, did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?" Captain Marvel questioned.

Aqualad just sighed in response.

"Kaldur, it's not entirely your fault," Brittany said, trying to ease his stress.

"Please, Spider-Girl. Do not try to sugar-coat my problems to make me feel better. I know you're only trying to help, but we both know it won't make anything more effective between the Team and me," Aqualad confided.

"Hey, everyone has their ups and downs. Honestly, this whole team leadership thing doesn't really appeal to me. What _does_ appeal to me is the disappearance of my sister. I realize that this whole 'Red Android Family' thing is a big concern for the League right now, but I wanna find out what happened to Tash," Brittany opened up.

Aqualad seemed to have a new found sympathy for the girl. "You are an inquisitive person, Brittany. I appreciate that about you. But right now, we have a mission to accomplish."

"Yes, sir." Spider-Girl saluted in a way that would make her father proud, and stood by Aqualad and Captain Marvel.

* * *

Aqualad, Captain Marvel and Spider-Girl traveled their way into the jungle. They walked into a small clearing with a heap of animalistic footprints left in it.

"Guess this is where Mayor Hill's 'monkey business' went down," Captain Marvel studied the animal footprints and bullets left in the dirt. "So, at least we've confirmed his story, right?"

Aqualad didn't respond.

"Aqualad?" Captain Marvel questioned, but Spider-Girl held her arm out.

"He's in the zone. He's thinking. He's sensing things," Brittany explained lightly to the adult. "I just suggest you let him do his thing."

"My apologies, Captain," Aqualad apologized, also nodding towards Brittany. "I am plagued by doubts."

"Well, I was partially correct," Brittany quipped.

"Perhaps I was wrong to withhold—" Aqualad started.

Suddenly, there was a loud thumping noise nearby; a sound of heavy footsteps.

"That does _not_ sound human," Brittany stated, getting ready to attack.

The footsteps shook the ground. The three heroes waited, until a rogue-looking elephant stomped into their path; its eyes were red and its flesh was almost left exposed. It was wearing a strange black metal collar as well.

Captain took the first charge. He threw a punch at the animal, but the elephant grabbed him with its trunk and swung him back into the bushes. Suddenly, two more elephants emerged from the jungle and out into the clearing, leaving Aqualad and Spider-Girl surrounded. One of the elephants charged at Aqualad; him being too late to get out of its way. Spider-Girl shot multiple threads of her web at the other two, distracting them from Aqualad and a collapsed Captain Marvel.

Captain slowly got up to hear another animal growling at him from a distance. He looked up to see it was a fairly large tiger, snarling at him viciously. The tiger was also wearing a metal electronic collar, just like the elephants.

Aqualad and Spider-Girl weren't doing any better. Aqualad dodged an attack from one of the elephants, whilst Spider-Girl was busy wrapping up the others in her webbing. It was no use, since the elephants just stomped their way out of the webs. Spidey had to resort to using her battle reflexes. For a thirteen year old, she wasn't very experienced in the whole 'beat up the bad-guys' thing. She was just (as much as she hated to admit it) Spider-Man's sidekick that webbed up the villains for Spider-Man to deal with. She felt more useless than a camera without film. Both she and Aqualad couldn't take all three of them any longer; leaving them both to get tossed aside by the elephants.

Meanwhile, Superboy was going through his thoughts when he heard a rustle in the bushes. Unexpectedly, a big grey wolf wearing a black metal collar rushed out from the trees and attacked Superboy. Another wolf came out from the darkness and charged at him, too. Superboy punched each of them away from him, but three more from their pack pounced on him, attempting to bite him. As Superboy was dealing with the other grey wolves; one of them, the leader of the pack, was watching the battle from up of one of the small cliff-faces.

In the meantime, Robin and Kid Flash were busy on the look-out for any enemies, when they heard birds screeching in the distance. The two boys looked up just in time to see three very large vultures flying over their way. One of the vultures swooped over the pair, and Robin noticed that the bird was wearing a black metal collar with small red lights emitting from it. Kid Flash quickly sped out of the way, not wanting to be speedster-meat.

"I thought vultures only ate dead meat," Robin called, throwing his batarangs at the rogue birds. He quickly caught up, running behind Kid Flash.

"Yeah, these are some very proactive scavengers," Kid Flash called back.

"Proactive _and_ super-sized. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Kobra Venom?"

"Yeah."

The two boys quickly jumped out of the way as the third vulture attempted to swoop them again.

In another clearing beside a river, Cat Girl, Artemis, Miss Martian and Havok were patrolling until a massive saltwater crocodile came up to the surface, almost devouring Miss Martian. Artemis attempted to shoot an arrow at the beast, but another one crashed into the log Artemis was standing on and snapped at Artemis' quiver, dragging her down below the surface. Another crocodile emerged from the river, but instead of attacking the group of young heroes, it stayed idle and was watching Cat Girl and Havok.

"That stare does _not_ look good for us, Kat," Havok said, looking over at his sister, waiting for her to make the first attack on the reptile. Ladies first, after all.

"Oh, you have no idea how many times I've had to deal with Killer Croc down in Gotham's sewers. In fact, I don't know why he wouldn't pick any other place," Cat Girl recalled, eyeing the crocodile's every slight movement.

"Really? How bad does it smell?"

"Like your gym socks on a Wednesday. So in other words: like _shit!_" and at that, she pulled out her whip, and burned that reptile like there was no tomorrow.

Miss Martian handled her crocodile, but Artemis was still in trouble. Miss Martian morphed herself into having four arms instead of two, and dived into the water to save Artemis. With one hand, she snapped Artemis' quiver off her shoulder, and punched the crocodile with two of her other arms. She quickly made a circular clearing in the middle of the river, making it dry for Artemis to breathe in.

"Okay. Nearly drowning two nights in a row is way less fun than it sounds," Artemis spluttered, coughing out water. The four protégés seemed to have noticed that the crocodiles were wearing black electronic collars as well as noticing they were exceedingly large, too.

Back with Aqualad, Captain Marvel and Spider-Girl, Captain flew up to the nearest elephant and punched it down. Spider-Girl swung her way around the elephants, flipping and somersaulting over their large bodies and tusks. Aqualad took out his Water-Bearers and flung whips of water at the elephant's collar it was wearing. The collar broke in half, emitting sparks of electricity, as the elephant suddenly changed its behaviour. Its mad and raging behaviour vastly changed into a calm and easy-going manner. It stopped attacking Aqualad and slowly turned away from the clearing.

"Remove the collars!" Aqualad shouted, gaining the attention of Spider-Girl and Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel quickly swooped around his elephant and smashed off the animal's collar. Spider-Girl swung her way around her elephant's tusks, and kicked the collar in half. All three elephants made their way out of the clearing as fast their heavy legs would take them.

"Pretty sweet the way you figured out the problem was the collars," Captain complimented Aqualad, watching the elephants make haste.

"It was pretty ingenious," Spider-Girl muttered, fixing up one of her web-slingers, which had gotten ripped off from one of the elephant's tusks.

"But the collars indicate an intelligence behind this attack," Aqualad answered. "The rest of the Team may also be at risk. Team, report status," he spoke into his comm.

He winced after the comm.'s static crackled in his ear.

"The comm.'s jammed. And Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up."

"Actually, as much I'd hate to break it you, it was _you_ that let everyone split up before communications were set," Spider-Girl said, wringing her wrist.

"They would not listen," Aqualad pointed out.

"I guess," Captain Marvel interjected. "But back at the Cave, Batman stopped everyone from arguing with one word."

"Because Batman is Batman."

"Hey, you don't have to tell me. When I first joined the League, all he did was boss me around. And it's hard not to take it personally. But, I never disobeyed an order. And that's probably what kept me alive."

"Batman takes command. He has to, for the good of the League. Thank you for helping me understand."

"Hey, wisdom of Solomon," Captain Marvel said, pointing to his temple.

_[Aqualad. Spider-Girl. Can you hear me?] _Miss Martian asked through her telepathic link.

_[Yup.] _Answered Spider-Girl.

_[Yes, Miss Martian. Report.] _Aqualad ordered.

_[Artemis, Cat Girl, Havok and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars like those used on convicts at Belle Reve prison.] _Miss Martian stated.

Captain Marvel got distracted by the tiger he saw, as it turned away. He began to grow curious of the beast.

"Cool, tiger. I'll be right back," and he started to fly after the feline.

"Captain, wait," Spider-Girl halted, not wanting to lose their source of adult supervision. If Red Tornado was still keeping tabs on the Team, and they went to India by themselves, she wouldn't have minded. But if the Team had Captain Marvel to look watch over them, then she _definitely_ didn't want to lose him to some tiger.

"Hey, speed of Mercury," Aqualad said, noticing Captain rushing after the tiger.

Spider-Girl and Captain Marvel followed the tiger into a clearing, where it had stopped. Spidey noticed that the inhibitor collar was letting off static, making the tiger growl.

"Hey there, mister. Bet you'd like old Cap to take that nasty collar off you, huh?" Captain tried to convince the animal.

"Captain, please refrain from calling yourself 'Cap'," Spider-Girl pleaded in annoyance.

"Oh – right. Sorry," Captain glided closer to the tiger, landing in front of it. The collar on the animal kept zapping the poor thing, causing the tiger to snarl in frustration.

As Spider-Girl's spider-sense started tingling like crazy, she quickly ran over to Captain Marvel, but as soon as she caught up to him, three pylons emerged from the ground around them. They both collapsed, to see an armed gorilla jump down from the trees, and beat his chest in triumph. The two heroes were immobilized by the pulses coming from the pylons.

* * *

Miss Martian, Havok, Artemis and Cat Girl were standing around in their clearing, having defeated the four crocodiles by simply destroying their inhibitor collars. Artemis was emptying out her quiver of all the water it collected, and Kat was sharpening her claws against a rock. Havok didn't even need to use his powers due to Kat's hunger for a battle.

_[Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link-up with the entire team. Now.]_ Aqualad ordered M'gann.

Miss Martian raised her hand to her temple and nodded.

_[Link established.]_ M'gann confirmed.

_[Should he be giving us orders?] _Artemis asked.

_[And should you really be following them?] _Kat asked.

_[Listen, please.]_ Aqualad pleaded.

_[Oh, good. Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that.] _Wally thought sarcastically.

_[Hey, Kaldur. KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'Course, since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves.] _Robin intervened.

_[If he did, he wouldn't have the fish-guts to tell you.] _Joe hinted.

_[Superboy, you online? Or just pouting?] _M'gann asked.

_[Busy. Call back later.] _Conner disclosed, currently being physically attacked the wolf pack's leader.

_[What gets me is about how nonchalant he is about not telling us.] _Wally obliged.

_[He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant.] _Robin thought.

_[How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?] _Joe asked.

_[Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves.] _M'gann complained.

_[Did he really think you and I could've been the mole?] _Wally asked, physically gesturing towards him and Robin.

_[We've known each other for years.] _Robin stated.

_[Trust is a two-way street.] _Artemis thought.

_[And you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them.] _ Kat thought.

_[Not that we'd do that.] _Artemis added.

_[Never.] _Kat agreed.

Out of frustration, Kaldur wouldn't let the bickering go on any longer.

_[Enough.] _He thought, angrily ripping one of the pylons from the ground. He had realized that he lost Brittany and Captain Marvel. _[Spider-Girl and Captain Marvel have been captured, and we must act as a team to save them.] _

_[Heh. Under _your _leadership? I don't think so.] _KF thought.

_[This is not up for debate. You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here.] _Kaldur explained, slamming the broken piece of pylon to the ground.

_[Well, I think I just might, since you let MY SISTER get captured.] _ Kat thought angrily, scratching a tree trunk in irritation.

Meanwhile, Spider-Girl and Captain Marvel were strapped to operation tables in some sort of laboratory, wearing inhibitor collars to negate their powers and to paralyze them from the neck down. An unknown figure had started going about their business in the laboratory.

"The brain enhancement of this _tigre_ already pays dividends, _non?_" The unknown figure said in a French accent. "For he has brought us two prizes most glorious. _Le Capitaine Merveille _and _la Araignée-Fille_."

"Why can't I move?" Captain Marvel woke up, looking at the bright computer monitor above him, then to Spider-Girl. He also noticed that the fellow spider was still unconscious. "And why isn't she awake?"

"It is obvious, _mais non?_ Your collar is set to prohibit _tout le movement _from the neck down. I have allowed you to retain the power of speech as your reactions may be _instructif _during _la procedure. _As for the young _fille_, she is just too weak for this. I may have to let her go, but in order to do that, I must be able to control her actions… from _le à l'intérieur_."

"_La procedure? _What procedure?And what does _le à_,er… whatever you said mean?" Captain asked. It turned out; the unknown figure was none other than: the Brain.

"À l'intérieur_. _It simply means 'inside'. But for the procedure, I have often pondered the effect of your powers on the cerebral cortex. I long to see _le _wisdom _de Solomon _up close." The Brain tapped on the monitor with its robotic arms and turned towards another figure. "Monsieur Mallah, prepare for surgery." He was speaking to the gorilla that had captured the Captain and Spider-Girl.

The gorilla grunted in approval.

Over with the rest of the Team, they swiftly ran through the jungle and met up at their focal point. Robin and Kid Flash crept up to the bank that was nearest to the compound they were spying on.

Kid Flash put on his red goggles to perceive the different light spectra. Miss Martian put herself in camouflage mode and hovered into a tree near the pair. Cat Girl and Havok slowly crept further down KF and Robin's right, taking in a different angle; Kat using her useful cat-eyesight to see any sudden movements. Aqualad and Artemis slowly made their way to the middle of their border line they made, spying on the compound's outside activities.

_[Nothing seems to be happening. Can I go now?] _Kat asked, only to get scolded by Miss Martian for using the telepathic link for useless thinking.

_[Hey, I can't help it if I'm over this mission already. I can't exactly keep my thoughts to myself now, can I?] _Kat complained.

_[Complaining about the mission isn't going to make it happen any faster. I suggest you stay focused from now on.] _Aqualad ordered.

_[Fine. Fancy taking orders from _you_…]_ Kat physically yawned.

_[KAT!] _Everyone else scolded, Joe jabbing her in the ribs.

_[Alright – OUCH! – fine. I'll shut up.] _Kat finalized.

And at that, everyone decided to get their heads in the game.

_[I'll fly over.] _Miss Martian offered, but got rejected.

_[Negatory. The field extends like a dome over the whole compound.] _Kid Flash described, looking through his goggles.

_[Pylons are insulated, but one good shock could cause a momentary gap.] _Robin explained, looking at his holo-screen on his glove gauntlet.

_[I see a target.] _Artemis spotted.

_[Then be ready to hit. Be ready, all of you.] _Aqualad ordered.

KF and Robin hesitantly exchanged glances at the order Aqualad had given them.

Aqualad quickly leaped down into the compound's clearing and used his water-powers to create a shock in the force field around the building. Kid Flash looked through his goggles at how Aqualad was doing, and saw the shock creating a small weak spot in the force field.

_[Now.] _KF asserted, as Artemis let go of her arrow, which went through the weak spot, and hit the target in the crevice.

Aqualad let go, having used up much of his water energy. The field powers went down. Aqualad gestured for the Team to move. Kid Flash sped down first, skidding down to where their leader was.

Everyone else moved, except for Cat Girl and Robin, who froze in their tracks, as they both looked up at the roof of the compound to find an angry-looking monkey staring down at them. The monkey let out a fairly loud scream, causing the others to gasp at the occurrence. A troop of monkeys jumped down from the roof, setting off the compound's alarms.

In the laboratory, Monsieur Mallah was looking through the security camera to see what the alarms got set off for. Brittany had not woken up yet. As for Captain Marvel, he wasn't feeling very good either. Mallah saw the bunch of young heroes fighting against his troop of monkeys.

"Go, Mallah," the Brain insisted. "Deal with _les_ intruders. I can handle _mon capitaine's _brain extraction myself."

Mallah tore off his surgical wear and set out to deal with the intruders.

Outside the compound, the Team was busy battling with the monkeys they'd encountered.

Aqualad noticed that the monkeys had the same inhibitor collars as the other animals did. He quickly ripped it off of the animal, and watched as the primate escaped.

"Remove their collars!" He ordered the rest of the Team.

"Sounds easy when _he_ says it," Robin said, struggling against two rogue monkeys.

Artemis kicked one of the monkeys away, and fired two arrows at the monkeys attacking Robin. As Artemis watched the two monkeys scurry away, two more rounded up behind her, as Robin shot two batarangs at their collars.

Then, Monsieur Mallah makes an entrance with his weapons, wearing his red beret, grunting his disapproval of the sight. Miss Martian tried to creep past Mallah in camouflage mode to get into the entrance, but he quickly sensed her presence and threw her back out. She blacked out and faltered back into her visual form.

"Keep your paws off her, you darn dirty ape!" Wally threatened, speeding up to the gorilla, but ended up slamming off of him, onto the ground.

In the laboratory, the Brain had gotten one of his sharp surgical tools and started preparing for Captain Marvel's surgery.

"You're _not_ taking my brain," Captain said, looking up at the sharp tool.

"_S'il vout plaît, capitaine, _do not struggle. Brain extraction is largely painless. And the benefits are enormous. Just look what it has done for me," the Brain steered into the light, to reveal his full form: an abnormally large brain connected to a few surgical wires, encased in a robotic tank-like body.

"That thing won't work on me," Captain pressed on.

"Perhaps. But it works on solid steel, so I'll try my luck. I'm told you have the courage of Achilles, _mais non?_ Perhaps you should have asked for his invulnerability instead." And as the Brain was about to start the operation, the tiger Captain Marvel had tried to save pounced over the operation table, and attacked the Brain.

The Brain got knocked over by the force of the push, but he got up to confront the tiger. "Traitor! You will suffer for that."

The Brain used his robotic body to electrify the tiger with the inhibitor collar.

"Stop it! Stop!" Captain Marvel beckoned.

Suddenly, a large explosion hit the wall behind the Brain. Monsieur Mallah had gotten telekinetically thrown through the wall by Miss Martian. The Team made their way into the broken wall of the compound to see what was being done inside.

"It's the Brain!" Kid Flash pointed so obviously.

"No, shit." Kat quipped, squinting at Wally.

"Ugh, I can see it's a brain," Artemis agreed.

"Not _a brain_. _The Brain_," Wally corrected.

"In the flesh. Uh, so to speak," the Brain said, turning towards the gorilla. "Mallah."

The gorilla got out a remote control and pressed a button, causing four pylons to erupt out from the ground. The Team fell from the pulses radiating off of the pylons, but they had devised a plan in case the worst-case scenario happened.

_[Miss Martian, Superboy, now.] _Aqualad ordered.

Miss Martian used her telekinesis to grab the remote out of Monsieur Mallah's paw and hover it over her face to control the pylons. The pylons turned off and the Team got back on their feet.

An explosion came from the opposite wall and Superboy came crashing in – with a fellow wolf by his side.

The wolf and the Team took turns of attacking Mallah, but each of them got tossed away, one by one. The Team kept fighting the gorilla and the Brain, as Aqualad freed Captain Marvel and Spider-Girl.

"Now, one good turn deserves another," Captain Marvel said, getting up from his operation table, and helped free the fallen tiger from his inhibitor collar.

The Team had Mallah and the Brain surrounded. The gorilla roared with all his might at the sight.

"Try it. I hate monkeys," Superboy threatened, the wolf by his side.

"No, Mallah. This will not be our Waterloo," the Brain ordered. Suddenly, his robotic body started to emit all kinds of strange-looking deadly weapons, getting ready to attack.

"Get down!" KF yelled, as everyone fell back from the pair of villains.

All of sudden, everything went dark.

All that happened next was that a light switched on, revealing an empty center of the room. The Brain and Monsieur Mallah had vanished.

"Wait. That big weapon thing was a light switch?" Wally asked.

"Okay, okay. We get it. They escaped. Where's skinny Honey Boo Boo?" Kat asked.

"Who, where, what now?" Artemis asked, giving Kat a strange look.

"She just means, 'Where's Brittany?'" Joe answered in clear English.

"She's over—" Aqualad started, but he looked back and saw that Brittany was still unconscious. "What happened to her?"

"Aw, HELL NO! Aqua-fish, move out of the way," Kat pushed Kaldur aside and knelt beside Brittany's operation table.

"Brittany. Brittany. Brittany. Brittany. Britt…" Kat said repetitively, slapping her sister's unconscious face, side to side.

"Is she just gonna keep slapping her face and keep repeating Brittany's name until she wakes up?" Kid Flash muttered to Joe.

"Most likely," Joe answered.

Suddenly, the tiger Captain Marvel saved roared so loudly, that Kat hissed and Brittany jolted upright and gasped.

"Oh… please tell me no one kissed me," Brittany said, laying back down, breathing rapidly.

"Don't worry. If _anyone_—" Kat pointedly stared at Robin and back again, "kissed you, I assure _you—_" Kat stared at Robin and back again, "it would be the last thing they did."

* * *

The Team and Captain Marvel arrived back at the Bio Ship.

"What are you grinning about?" Artemis asked in annoyance, walking beside Wally.

"One word: souvenir," Wally answered, putting on the red beret that Monsieur Mallah was wearing.

"Two words: gorilla lice," Artemis snarked back, walking off.

"Huh? Oh, man." Wally complained, taking off the beret and holding it outwards in disgust.

At the Bio Ship's entrance, Aqualad took off the inhibitor collar of one of the monkeys they didn't set free.

"Is that the last of the inhibitor collars?" Captain Marvel asked his fellow tiger.

The tiger grunted his approval.

"And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" Captain asked the tiger.

The tiger grunted his approval.

"Good. I'll be back for a visit. I promise," Captain promised, kneeling down to pat the tiger.

The tiger scampered off into the jungle.

Captain Marvel waved after it, standing up. "I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny."

Over with Superboy and Miss Martian, they both saw that the wolf Superboy fought alongside was still there.

"The rest of the pack has gone. What are you still doing here?" Conner asked the wolf.

"I think he wants to stay with you," Miss Martian obliged.

"Can I keep him?" Conner asked.

"Heh. First Sphere, now _this_ beast?" KF laughed. "Dude, you sure make a habit of collecting strays."

"Maybe because he's such a stray himself," Miss Martian said.

_[Aren't you?] _She asked telepathically.

_[M'gann, I'm sorry. I was just worried.] _Conner apologized.

Miss M crouched below where he was. _[And that's sweet, Conner. But on a mission, I'm your teammate, not your girlfriend. Agreed?]_

_[Yeah.] _Conner agreed.

"Well, he's gonna need a name. Uh, how's about Krypto?" Wally inquired.

The wolf snarled in return.

"Pass," Conner agreed.

"Besides, isn't that taken?" Miss M asked.

Aqualad started to make his way into the Bio Ship, when Robin stopped him.

"Look, I need to know. Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?" Robin asked.

The others faced him, wanting to know as well.

"The source of the tip was Sportsmaster," Aqualad answered.

"What?" Artemis asked in disbelief. "You can't trust _him_."

"I do not. It seemed possible, even likely that he was attempting to divide the Team with false information."

"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded," Robin added. "But you had to consider it might be true."

"Yes. As leader, I did. In which case, I did not wish to alert the traitor."

"I hate to say it, but… it makes sense."

"I am still prepared to step down."

"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader," Wally announced, raising his hand.

Everyone else raised their hand in agreement. In the Bio Ship, Joe had to forcefully raise Kat's hand. Kat reluctantly grumbled in agreement.

"Guess it's unanimous," Captain Marvel said, shaking Aqualad's hand. "See you tomorrow."

Captain Marvel prepared to take off.

"You're not coming back with us?" Aqualad questioned.

"Nuh. Gotta fly."

And like that, Captain Marvel flew into the sky, speeding off into the distance.

"So, what are you gonna call him?" Miss Martian asked, gesturing towards Superboy's new companion.

"What's wrong with Wolf?" Supes asked.

"Generic but acceptable," Wally approved.

"Hey, hey, hey, HEY! If that _dog_ thinks of sitting next to me, he better sleep tonight with one eye open! That little piece of canine shi—" Kat hissed.

"Shut up, Kat." Everyone said simultaneously.

Even after a small moment of silence as the Bio Ship took off, Kat couldn't keep her mouth closed.

"Hey, isn't it Britt-baby's birthday tomorrow?" Kat asked sarcastically, nudging her younger sister in front of everyone.

"Wait, it is?" Artemis asked curiously.

"Um… yeah," Brittany said nervously.

"Woohoo! Then tomorrow we gots to partay it ON!" Wally exclaimed in excitement.

"You guys really don't have to—"

"What? Are you kidding me? Brittany, you're gonna get out of the beginner's zone!" Miss Martian said. "Erm, did I say that right, Kat?"

"Totes," Kat said in mock assurance.

As everyone started buzzing about Brittany's birthday, Robin shifted his chair over next to Brittany.

"You got any plans for tomorrow?" he asked, leaning on the ship's motherboard.

"Nothing I was originally planning, anyway," Brittany frowned.

"Oh, really? What were your original plans?"

"To have Tash there."

"Oh," Robin's smile got swept off his face. "Don't worry, okay? The League's bound to have made her one of their top priorities."

"And if that's not the case?"

"Well, we'll just make her _our_ priority then."

Robin took her hand in his, but Brittany quickly pulled away when Kat shifted her chair back to Brittany.

"Ew, Boy Wonder, go away." Kat shooed at Robin.

Tomorrow was gonna be an interesting day.

* * *

**METROPOLIS  
****SEPTEMBER 23, 22:47 EDT****  
**

In another laboratory in a tall building in Metropolis, was a frozen pod that held a fairly important pawn to the Light's plans.

And the person inside that pod… was Natasha Summer.

She'd been in there for a while, and hadn't been awake since. Ever since Red Torpedo and Red Inferno took a little visit to Mount Justice, things for the Light have been going particularly well.

In the dark room Tash was in, the only light that was being emitted was the light of her Green Lantern ring. It was sitting on a small stand in a glass case. The green glow of the ring was wavering as more people stepped into the room. The first person to step into the ring's light was Lex Luthor. His bold and – well, _bald_ – features shone in the green light. Next to step inside were the Joker, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Count Vertigo, Wotan, Poison Ivy and Ultra-Humanite.

Only seven of these villains present were part of what they'd like to call: the Injustice League. They were only at LexCorp tower to help with Luthor's plans in his part of the organization called the Light.

"Now, now, Luthor. What do we have here?" Joker asked, peering at the Green Lantern ring, then towards Tash.

"Oh, just a little something that I need to fix," Lex answered, looking pointedly at Tash, whom was still frozen in her pod.

"Well, nothing really looks wrong with her," Ivy pointed out. "She just looks like a healthy young girl. You sure you need to fix her up?"

"She seems to have done something that the Light never planned," Luthor said in a deadly voice. "She's approximately ten weeks pregnant."

"A girl as young as _that?_" Black Adam accused in disgust.

"Yes. Now, would all of you like to have the pleasure of meeting her?" Lex offered, gesturing towards his control panel.

Nobody said anything. Not even the gorilla grunted.

"I knew you would," Lex said, pushing the opening button anyway.

The frozen pod opened itself up, revealing a healthy looking eighteen-year old girl with a two month old baby bump.

Natasha slowly regained consciousness after a few minutes, until drearily opening her eyes to see eight villainous faces that she thought she'd never see in another ten years.

"Where—" Tash began.

"Sh…" Luthor shushed, putting a finger to his lips. "You're at LexCorp. It appears that you have wrecked a few plans of mine. I'd like to undo your undoing."

"H-how?" Tash stuttered, looking from each of the villains standing before her, to her Green Lantern ring in the glass case.

"Oh, I think you know," Lex said. He turned towards the Joker. "Joker, I believe it's time for you to start laughing, because things are about to get a little funny from here."

"Hehe, okay," and like that, the Joker started cackling like a maniac on demand.

"I'm just going to do you a favor. It's time to remove this… fetus… from your nightmares."

And at that, Tash screamed as Doctor Hugo Strange walked into the room.

* * *

**ThanksHappyReadingGoodbye!**

**Me: *Hides behind Superboy***

**Me: I'M SORRY.**

**Me: … ;)**

**P.S. *whispers* Please review your answers!**


	24. Brittany's Birthday Special

**Chapter 23: Brittany's Birthday Special**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****SEPTEMBER 24, 07: 45 EDT****  
**

"Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Brittany,

Happy birthday to you!"

Brittany groaned into her pillow, as she realized what day it was.

"Hip hip – HOORAY! Hip hip – HOORAY! Hip hip – HOORAY!" The Team chorused, as they made themselves comfortable in Brittany's bedroom.

"Hey, guys… what are you doing here?" Brittany asked, lying on her back. She saw Conner, M'gann, Kat, Joe, Artemis and Kaldur standing/sitting around her room. They each had bright smiles widely etched on their faces; whereas, Brittany wasn't feeling very whelmed for her special day.

"Don't be silly, Britt. It's your birthday and you know it," M'gann said, taking a seat on her bed. M'gann telekinetically levitated all of Brittany's presents into the room, sitting them at the foot of the bed.

"Aw, you guys… all of these can't be from _just_ the Team," Brittany blushed, looking at the enormous pile of gifts.

"You're right. These aren't just from us, they're from a few more close friends and family," Joe answered, "but trust me – you're gonna get _way_ more presents throughout the day."

"I feel so special right now, guys," Brittany grinned. "Really, you didn't have to-"

"Oh, stop. That's what we were aiming for. Now, open the first present!" Artemis urged.

M'gann picked up a random present from the pile and handed it to the birthday girl.

"Thanks. Oh, before we start – where's Robin?" Brittany asked.

"He… couldn't make it for presents. He said he'll be here for everything else, though. Plus, he did get you a really cool present. I think." Wally blurted, wearing a party hat.

"You think," Brittany said suspiciously. Everyone else exchanged looks, as if they were hiding something. But, Brittany decided to play along if that was what they were going to do.

"Okay, I'll open it now."

Brittany opened the card of the first present.

"'Dear Brittany,

Birthdays are a new start; fresh beginnings, a time to start new endeavors with new goals. Move forward with fresh confidence and courage. Happy Birthday to a young daughter that is charming, talented and witty, and reminds me a lot of myself.

Thinking the best for you always,

Your ancient dinosaur father.

P.S. Kat told me to write that at the end. And do this- :]'"

"Aw, I love Dad. He's such an old man," Brittany joked, as everyone laughed in agreement.

She observed the gift: it was fairly heavy in weight, and it was in a rectangular box. It was wrapped in brown tissue paper, along with a silver ribbon, to signify Brittany's favorite color. Brittany carefully un-wrapped the gift, and opened the box to find: a polished metallic 1940's typewriter, along with a note saying, 'Although these old things have died out decades ago, they still teach you a few things about making mistakes.'

"Yes!" Brittany exclaimed in triumph. "Dad got me the typewriter that I wanted!"

"Yep. You're a hipster," Kat affirmed.

M'gann handed her the next present – the shape of the gift was a pretty dead giveaway, because it was one of the biggest presents out of the pile.

"I think I know what this is already," Brittany guessed, looking towards Wally.

Everyone else gave him a pointed glare.

"Hey! We were talking about it the other week!" Wally put up his hands in defense.

"It's alright, Wally. It'll be an awesome present, nonetheless," Brittany nodded, grinning.

Brittany opened the card first.

"'To Brittany,

I HOPE THAT YOUR BIRTHDAY IS AS HAPPY AS A CHIMPANZEE WITHOUT PANTS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! XD

From yours truly,

The Wal-Man.

P.S. I was originally supposed to say, 'as happy as a gorilla without a beret', but it didn't sound as funny as a chimpanzee without pants. :P'"

"That's okay, Wal-Man. You're my bro either way," Brittany said, fist-bumping Wally.

She opened the huge present to find exactly what she and Wally were talking about the other week: a brand new Burton Whammy Marley snowboard, with pictures on the bottom of Bob Marley; taken at the legendary 1978 One Love Peace Concert.

Brittany gasped. "Wally! You got me the Bob Marley one I wanted!"

"What can I say? I know you don't exactly like snowboarding at top speed like me, so I got you a slow-jamming one," Brittany had to get up and hug Wally, then sit back down again. "Now we can go snowboarding this Christmas!"

"I'm so excited for that! Okay, what's next?"

M'gann handed Brittany a small envelope with a silver bow attached to it (everyone just resorted to wrapping their gifts in something silver).

"This one's from me," M'gann said, excitedly clapping her hands.

Brittany opened her card.

"'To my very valuable Earth-sister,

I know I may not have been on Earth for very long, and I still might have trouble getting used to the way things work around here, but you've made it possible for me to understand that being different isn't so bad. I hope all your wishes come true. Happy Birthday!

From your BFF, M'gann.

P.S. I've asked A LOT of people for your opinion on your favorite singers/bands, and this was the most popular person I could find available.'"

"Holy crap. No way," Brittany said, emptying out the rest of the contents inside the envelope. "No frickin' way!"

Brittany picked up the contents to reveal: tickets to the Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour 2011 concert at Madison Square Garden.

Brittany squealed in delight and gave M'gann a really tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" Brittany squealed.

"You're welcome! All of us girls are going to go next year," M'gann said. "Wally said that he wanted to go, but he was that much of a gentleman to let it be a girls' night out." The other two girls giggled, as Wally huffed in disappointment. Everyone knew he just wanted to go to impress M'gann.

"Next present!" Kat urged, getting bored really easily.

M'gann handed Brittany the next present (there were presents from other people than just the Team).

"Ooh, I wonder who this is from," Brittany thought aloud.

She opened the card.

"'Dear baby cousin-"

"Ooh, ooh, I know who it's from!" Kat interrupted.

"Yes, Kat. We know," Joe assured Kat.

Brittany continued reading.

"'Despite all the advances in medicine these days, there is still no cure for the common birthday. If it weren't for that genetically enhanced spider at OsCorp, we both know we wouldn't be here today. You, especially. Hope your day gets filled with happy memories.

Love from your extremely awesome cousin,

Peter. xoxo'"

Brittany proceeded to opening up the cube-shaped present.

Again, it was another promised gift that Brittany had longed for: the newest Sony DSLR-A290 digital camera. Peter had even bought her extra film to take more pictures with.

"My day just keeps getting better and better," Brittany beamed. "Now I can finally start my arthropodology album."

"The fuck is that?" Kat questioned.

"Don't worry. Arthropodology's only the study of arthropods; a phylum of animals that include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others that are characterized by the possession of jointed limbs," Brittany explained in one breath. And her father was worried that she wouldn't get a PhD in the future.

"Right," Kat quipped, not wanting to go into any more details.

M'gann handed Brittany yet, _another_ gift.

"This one's from me!" Artemis piped up.

"I'm excited," Brittany said, opening up the card.

"'To Brittany,

I hope that your birthday is as much fun as you are, but that sets a very high standard.

Hoping your day is sunny and bright, yet dark and gloomy (for your eyeballs' sake of course). Happy Birthday!

From Artemis. xxx

"Sweet message, Artemis," Brittany complimented.

"Why, thank you. It only took me about five minutes to write," Artemis smirked.

"HA! Mine only took a second and a half!" Wally bragged.

"I'm honestly not that surprised it took you another half second to at least make it look presentable," Artemis shot back.

"Guys. Can we please not, today?" Brittany asked.

"Right. Sorry."

"Sorry."

"Thank you," Brittany opened the present to find: a $100 AMC Theaters gift voucher.

"OMG, we must see The Social Network next month. It has Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake in it!" Brittany giggled.

"Pfft, lame. I'd rather wait and go see Saw 3D," Kat said, high-fiving Joe.

"It's her choice, Kat. Not yours," Artemis intervened.

"Okay, next present," M'gann moved along.

Brittany received a thick, yet flat present from Kaldur.

"Hm… I wonder what's in here…" Brittany pondered.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," was all Kaldur said.

Of course, she opened the card first.

"'Dear Brittany,

On your birthday, I wish you abundant happiness and love. May all your dreams become a reality. But even more than that, may it bring you loads of true love and friendship. Have an amazing birthday!

From your team mate, Kaldur'ahm.'"

"That birthday message could never have been truer," Brittany smiled, hugging their team leader.

Brittany unwrapped Kaldur's present to find: an ocean themed photo album, filled with pictures of the Team's social events.

"Oh my gosh…" Brittany said in awe, turning through the pages. She flipped through all the pictures, before thanking Kaldur. "Kaldur, this is a really wonderful gift. Thank you so much."

"Anything to represent how great our team's friendship can be," Kaldur bowed respectfully.

"Okay, bring out the big present. This one's from Conner," Kat said, gesturing towards Conner, whom was lifting a very big box which looked exceedingly heavy.

"I hope you like it," Conner said. "M'gann helped me pick it out – but it was my idea."

"I bet you I will, Conner," Brittany assured.

She opened up the card.

"'Dear Brittany,

I am sending you warm and fuzzy birthday wishes. Happy Birthday,

From Conner.'"

"You better be sending me warm and fuzzy birthday wishes, Conner," Brittany grinned, as Conner rolled his eyes.

Brittany had to actually get up to unwrap this present. She went all around it and ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal: a multi-station bench press.

"Whoa! I'm gonna be buff by next year!" Brittany said. "Thanks Conner! How did you manage to wrap this?"

"Oh, M'gann did it for me," Conner looked over at M'gann, who blushed.

"Okay! Is that everyone from the Team done now?" Joe asked; getting bored like Kat was.

"Yeah – oh, no. Wait. There's one more from the Team," M'gann said, picking up a small silver package.

"Oh, god. This can only mean it's from uptight Boy Wonder…" Kat murmured, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Brittany knew exactly who the present was from, so she didn't read it out for everyone to hear.

'Dear Spidey,

Happy Birthday! I love you so frickin' much. Hope you have an amazing day.

From your totally lovable (boy)friend,

Boy Wonder.

P.S. Remember to stay whelmed, be turbed, feel the aster and get traught. :)'

"Ooh, what did lover-boy say—OW!" Kat exclaimed, getting elbowed in the ribs by Joe.

Brittany (ignoring Kat's remark) ripped off the gift wrapping, to see a jewelry box from Pandora. Everyone leaned in closer to look at what Robin gave Brittany.

She opened the box to find: a silver Pandora capture bracelet. She saw that there were already charms put in place: an alphabet 'B' charm, a study book charm, a pale pink cosmic stars fixed charm with multi-colored cubic zirconia, a silver sneaker dangle charm, a sterling silver charm with a sapphire birthstone, an ice skate dangle charm, a ballerina hanging charm, a galaxy open work charm, and lastly – a robin charm (the bird).

"Oh my gosh… he got this for _me?_" Brittany gasped, gingerly picking up the charm bracelet.

"Hehe, I wonder how much pretty-boy spent on it," Wally murmured to Kat, as they both stifled their laughter.

"Brittany, it's beautiful," Artemis admired, as she hit both Wally and Kat, making them whine in pain.

"It really is, isn't it? If only he were here…" Brittany said, carefully putting on the bracelet.

"He'll be here for the rest of the day," M'gann confirmed. "He just needs to handle some business with Batman."

"Fair enough."

"Now, you have one more present to open, and it's from me, Kat and Tasha," Joe said, as M'gann handed he the last gift from the Team.

Brittany found a really big card attached to the gift, which she read:

"'Dear Britt-baby,

You have come a long way from being an annoying little 13-year-old, to being a somewhat, little bit more mature 14-year-old. But trust us, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. You'll find yourself becoming more and more responsible by the minute, and you'll need the right fashion sense to do so. So, in this present, you will find a whole lot of options to get yourself started as your 14-year-old self. And by the way, Happy Birthday.

Love from the greatest people you will ever meet (and be related to),

Regina, Karen and Gretchen (Natasha, Katrina and Joseph).'"

"I love you guys. You try so hard to be hilarious," Brittany said whilst opening her gift.

"Uh, that's 'cause we _are_," Kat said, flipping her blonde ponytail.

Brittany smiled as she opened the gift to see: a thick envelope full of gift cards to various popular clothing stores. Each card held an amount of $50-100 for: Abercrombie &amp; Fitch, Beatrice Holloway, dELiA*s, Diesel, HOT KISS, Hollister Co., Justice, Hurley, Charlotte Russe, Forever 21, Quiksilver and Nike.

"I told you I was gonna pick out your clothes," Kat smirked, remembering the time she saw Brittany in her PJ's.

"You guys spoil me _way_ too much," Brittany said, hugging the both of her present siblings. "And that's what makes you guys the best."

"Okay, so Brittany can go get herself ready now that she knows we're the best team members/friends/siblings ever, and then we can finally PARTAY IT ON!" Wally cheered; high-fiving Kat and Joe.

* * *

Of course, nothing could really beat an all-superhero birthday party. They're fun, filled with different super powers lighting up the place, and of course – there was a lot of food. Almost the entire League showed up (some had other business to attend to, but were easily understood), and numerous superheroes from New York showed up, especially Captain America. It doesn't get any better than that.

But, there was only one thing missing to complete the superheroic party: the birthday hostess.

Whilst everyone else were celebrating and _not_ eating cake yet, Brittany silently crept out into one of the Cave's empty hallways. She slowly slid down onto the floor, and sat there; thinking about her past birthday celebrations, and how each and every one of them got ruined because the birthday girl _herself_ wasn't feeling happy.

She reminisced the day she turned twelve. It had been a good day – except when Kat and Joe wouldn't stop calling her a 'twelvie'. The only one who didn't seem to have annoyed her that day was Tash. But now, Tash wasn't even there to see Brittany turn fourteen.

Before Brittany could think of anymore melancholy memories, a pair of silent footsteps interrupted her thoughts.

It was Robin.

"Hey, gorgeous," Robin greeted, looking down at Brittany, whom was still sitting on the floor. "You're missing out on all your birthday celebrations."

Brittany didn't say anything. She couldn't think of anything to say. She just crinkled her nose, and hugged her knees closer to her chin.

"Um, clearly you're not feeling very whelmed. What's up?" Robin asked, sliding down next to her. Brittany felt butterflies flutter in her stomach, feeling Robin sit next to her.

"It's just… Tash," Brittany sniffed; small tears were starting to form in her eyes. "This is the first time she hasn't been here with me to celebrate my birthday."

"Well… the League is still trying to find traces of where she might have gone, if that makes you feel any better," Robin informed, lifting his arm to put it around Brittany, but quickly drew it back, not knowing if he should.

"…that made me feel a _bit_ better. But I'm just too afraid to face the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"The truth that Tash might actually have… _gone_," Brittany's voice trembled as she spoke, resulting in her taking off her glasses to wipe away her tears.

Robin gently took her hand and held it in both of his. He even resorted to taking off his own glasses, revealing his pure blue eyes.

"Listen to me," he said quietly, shushing Brittany's small sobs. "Tash _will_ be okay, alright? Yes, we know she could be anywhere at this point in time, but we have _not_ forgotten our comrade – trust me, Red Arrow's furious with everyone about it. I know that trust has – and will continue to be – hard for us to come by (after the mole incident) but you've just gotta get up and try."

Robin put his hand on Brittany's cheek, as she quickly nodded in agreement to what he said.

"Now," Robin said, getting up from the floor, "you actually need to _get up_ and try. You have a party to attend to."

He stood up, and held out his hand for Brittany to take it. Brittany thought hard about what Robin had said, and took his hand. Electricity shot up through Brittany's body. As Robin pulled her up, he quickly grabbed her other hand and pulled her close.

Brittany's heart was pounding so hard, she thought she'd faint right then and there. With Robin's eyes locked onto Brittany's, they both realized there was going to be no turning back afterwards.

As the pair looked into each other's eyes, they both noticed the gleam in each other's stare; Robin noticing that Brittany's eye color was a deep shade of blue with specks of green. He wanted to find out everything about the girl standing in front of him. And more than anything, he wanted to feel her lips on his.

Robin pulled Brittany closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. Brittany hastily threw her arms around his neck, as his lips met hers. The warmth of the kiss sent a current running through Brittany's lithe figure. They both lost themselves in the moment of the kiss; Robin taking in the sweet scent of honeysuckle from Brittany's perfume.

Then eventually (and naturally), they both needed to let go of each other to breathe. The kiss broke, as they leaned into each other.

"You feeling whelmed yet?" Robin muttered; Brittany taking in the scent of his peppermint breath.

"If that's even possible," Brittany grinned. After a few more moments, the pair broke apart; becoming aware of their surroundings.

"Um… I guess we better get back to my party," Brittany said awkwardly, putting her sunglasses back on, as did Robin.

"Absolutely," Robin smirked, putting an arm around his girl. "And I see you're also wearing the bracelet I gave you. Do you love it, or do you love it?"

"Of course I do. But here's a tip for you to improve for next time: don't use up your many simoleons to buy my love for you, Grayson. All you had to do was ask."

Brittany quickly leaned up and kissed Robin on the cheek, before challenging him to race back to the party.

* * *

**THE WATCHTOWER  
****SEPTEMBER 24, 20:47 EDT****  
**

"Hal!" Superman flew into the Justice League's conference room, calling out to his fellow Green Lantern.

"Superman! Have you gotten anything on the whereabouts of Natasha yet?" Hal asked. Superman landed in front of Hal, as a few other Leaguers made their way inside.

"No. But I do know that someone else is hooked on finding her as well," Superman explained.

"Who?"

Superman was cautious to say anything as Green Arrow walked into the room.

"Red Arrow," Supes said in a low voice.

"Why am I not surprised?" Hal said, not even making an effort to keep his voice low from GA.

As Superman was about to start explaining more to Hal, Green Arrow stepped into their conversation.

"What are we talking about, lads?" GA said nonchalantly.

Hal and Superman both exchanged looks before turning back to Arrow.

"It's about Roy…" Hal started.

"Oh, yeah? What's the news on him?" Arrow asked, intrigued by the subject of his former protégé.

"He's currently making it his priority to find _my _protégé," Hal said. "I'm surprised he's even made it an effort to be her boyfriend after everything that's been done – er, no offense."

"None taken," GA said flatly. Changing his tone, he added, "Well, he's always had a soft spot for her."

"Since when did this become a love story?" Superman asked. "Are we still tracking down her whereabouts?"

"What do _you_ think, Supes?" Hal said, clearly distressed. "I've raised her since she was fourteen, and built her up to become the hero she is – or _was_ before Arrow's former _sidekick_ got into her head!"

"None of this is Roy's fault!" GA shot back.

"Oh, please. Stop defending him, _Oliver_. You know damn well that most of the mess Tash got herself into was because of that scoundrel you call a hero!"

"Say that again, _Hal_, and you might just get an arrow up your—"

"Enough."

Batman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman walked into the room. The two green superheroes stopped bickering to see all of the main Leaguers watching them.

"Stop this quarrel before it turns into something worse," Wonder Woman scolded firmly. The two men knew that protocol particularly well from their many past disagreements. They stood apart from each other, and nodded as a symbol of truce.

"Much better," Wonder Woman approved.

The present Leaguers took their assigned seats to start the Justice League conference. The members that were present were Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Hal Jordan, Black Canary, Aquaman and the Flash. The missing members were Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, John Stewart and the two Hawks.

Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman took their usual spots up at the head of the table. Black Canary sat next to Wonder Woman, whilst Aquaman sat at the right end of the table. Green Arrow sat next to where Captain Marvel sat (which was right next to Batman), whilst Green Lantern and Flash sat next to each other down at the left end of the table (well away from GA).

Batman was the first to speak, standing up above everyone else.

"Now, you all know why you're here," Bats began, taking a panoramic look around at his fellow Leaguers. He curtly nodded towards Green Lantern before sitting back down again, and Hal stood up to say his part.

"This meeting was called tonight because somebody that we all hold dearly has gone missing," Hal announced, nodding to his colleagues. "That somebody is Natasha Summer: Green Lantern Girl of Earth, Sector 2814."

Hal sat back down to let Wonder Woman take the reins of the meeting.

"Hal, are you sure that's not all you would like to include to start us off?" She asked, already knowing what Hal was about to say.

"Red Arrow, Green Arrow's former protégé, is apparently looking for her, as well the League."

Black Canary raised her hand to speak. "Well, I don't really see what the problem is with that. He just sounds like a really dedicated boyfriend, if you ask me."

"You too, huh?" GL said murmured, but everyone on his side of the table managed to hear it.

"Sorry, what was that?" Green Arrow asked in mock interest.

"What's it to you, Green Beard?"

"Don't make fun of my goatee!"

"Hal—" Flash started, pulling GL's ring-arm back.

"Men!" Wonder Woman interjected, placing her fists firmly on the table. "We did _not_ come here to fight." She turned towards Hal. "Green Lantern, why has this boy become an issue to you?"

"Well, in case some of you didn't know already – Natasha has been pregnant for the last ten weeks!" No one said anything. "And guess who the father is?"

Hal turned on the holo-computer to show everyone a photo of Tash and Roy happily walking down a street in Star City.

"This photo was taken from one of the security cameras from outside of Queen Industries." The rest of the League either had concerned or shocked looks on their faces. Oliver's face turned red, as he slowly shrank back in his seat and started to believe what his colleague was trying to say.

"Care to explain, GA?" Hal sharply turned to Oliver, as did everyone else.

"Listen; I've seen those two get along for years. It's a wonder why they weren't dating before," he said, avoiding Hal and Batman's watchful glares. "Ever since Roy was fourteen – which was coincidentally the same age Tash became Green Lantern Girl – he wouldn't stop talking about her until they met in person. And to be quite honest, those two were mostly the reason why Green Lantern and I became close friends."

Flash raised his hand to speak. "Since when did this become a love story?"

"That's exactly what _I _said," Superman agreed.

"So, let me ask you again, Hal: why has this boy become an issue to you?" Wonder Woman asked.

GL waited a few moments before giving his answer. "He's become an issue because he shouldn't be going after someone he's already hurt." Again, no one said anything, so he continued. "I have looked after Tash as if she were my own – which, I'm not really obligated to say, since I have no children. _But_, I've watched her grow into a young heroine that deserves a better future, than what she has in store for herself now."

Green Arrow put up his hand to speak. "Speaking of the future; wouldn't she just put the baby up for adoption, or…?" He suddenly got a death glare across the table, from Black Canary.

Aquaman put up his hand to speak. "And from what I've heard; abortions are out of the question. Her father strictly said so."

"The thought of killing another human being just for the sake of being alive makes me sick," Black Canary broke in.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Well, for all we know, Tash could be getting an abortion right now," GL intervened angrily. "We'll never know unless we actually start looking—"

All of a sudden, the holo-computer's alarm started going off. The League was greeted with an urgent video-call from Green Lantern, John Stewart.

"_John Stewart to Watchtower. I have news of the whereabouts of Green Lantern Girl,"_ John announced.

"Where is she, John?!" Hal called, standing up from his seat, as did Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

"_We found Tasha being held hostage by an assortment of villains in an abandoned clinic in Gotham City," _Everyone quickly turned to Batman, then back to the screen. _"Martian Manhunter, the Hawks, Red Arrow and I saved her from the Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Hugo Strange. The villains got away as soon as we arrived at the clinic. It was almost as if they _wanted_ us to go there."_

"And what about Tash? Is she alright?" Hal asked.

"_Natasha is in adequate conditions…" _John quickly looked down, and up at the screen again.

"Why? What's wrong?" Hal urged.

"_GLG is safe now that we've been at the Gotham General Hospital," _John paused for a moment before continuing. _"Though something happened whilst she was in the hands of Strange – but I'd rather let you find out for yourself, Hal. And I'm telling you now, it is NOT pretty." _

And that was the end of the call.

* * *

**Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay on this update. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to write it. BUT, this plotline that I've figured out is definitely gonna help me write future chapters more easily – and faster. **

**I would like to thank those who still review and follow/favorite. I really appreciate it, and please keep at it! :) **

**AND I would also like to give one of my friends a shout out. Her name on this website is **_**xjessssx43**_** but she doesn't have any stories on here. She does, however, have one on Quotev, so please go check out her story. If you're interested, her username is also **_**xjessssx43 **_**but her page name is 'Head In The Clouds'. She has helped me a lot with my writing and I think you would really like her writing, as well.**

**Happy Reading! ;D**

**P.S. Thanks **_**PrettyKitty Luvs U **_**for reviewing my story, even if this story's been through a long hiatus. Kudos to you :D**


	25. Disclosure

**WARNING:**** This chapter contains a lot of swearing. I think you know who may be saying those cursed words by now.**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Disclosure**

**GOTHAM CITY  
****SEPTEMBER 25, 08:09 EDT****  
**

"Dude, is Tash straight-up naked right now?"

"Come on, man! That's pervy!"

"Sorry, dude. I'm in one of those moods."

"Good riddance."

"Guys, shut up. Roy's right there."

"Oh, yeah? What's he gonna do? Dingle our bones into tapioca pudding?"

"What the frick? That sounds gross."

"Like I said, I'm in one of those moods."

The Team were in Tash's private ward at the Gotham General Hospital, when Wally, Joe and Artemis started quoting _Adventure Time_. Well, Wally openly asked if Tash was straight-up naked. He was in one of those moods.

The Team were visiting Tash to see if she was okay to do missions and things. After all, she had been tortured by Lex Luthor and the like. It was a wonder how she and Roy were still together after their miniature hiatus.

Tash was (to Wally's mood-satisfaction – straight-up naked) wearing a hospital gown and was hooked up to an IV. Roy was sitting closest to Tash, wearing his civilian clothes. In fact, the whole team came as civilians, since they weren't granted any missions for that day. Unfortunately, Captain America and Hal couldn't be there due to some more important things needing taking care of. The rest of the Team were seated around the ward.

"So… you're not preggers anymore?" Brittany asked her sister nervously.

It wasn't hard to find the answer to the question, but the question _itself_ was hard to answer.

Tash looked sideways at Roy, who gave her a small nod, and she turned towards the faces of everyone else.

"Yes," she sighed weakly. Everyone lowered their heads in sorrow.

Even though Tash dreaded the many times she'd have to accept the fact she was pregnant, she still put in a lot of effort to make sure the child inside of her stayed healthy. Yes, she did consider going to an abortion clinic without her father's knowledge. Yes, she didn't end up doing it, because something stopped her from doing so. It was the fact that the child was Roy's baby, too. She didn't know whether he'd want the baby to live or not. But before she could even consult the issue with him, she got kidnapped by Lex Luthor.

She couldn't even remember how it happened. The doctor that took care of her after she got rescued, informed her that when her blood tests were complete, traces of past IV sedation were found, meaning Tash was under the type of anesthesia that caused her to be completely asleep during the surgical abortion Hugo Strange gave her. It was horrible to think about, but that was what happened.

Tash took a deep breath. "Well, I want to start doing missions as soon as I'm able to start standing again."

Roy frantically looked up at Tash in disbelief. "Tash, no. You won't be stable enough to."

"Roy, it's my choice. Plus, I'm part Super Soldier. I can handle it," Tash retaliated.

Roy sighed in defeat. He would usually try and say something else, so he got the final say, but this time he let it go.

"If that's what you want," he mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"It's what I need," Tash responded, reaching over her bed, and placed her hand on Roy's. Roy glanced up at her, as if to question her sudden movement. The rest of the Team were still in the room.

"Um—we can come back later, if you want…" M'gann obliged, gesturing towards the door.

"Yeah, that's fine," Tash allowed.

The Team stood up to walk out the door.

"She said it was _fine_," Brittany whispered to Robin, as they walked out.

"Brittany, that's because it _is_ fine," Robin whispered back.

"You know what I mean," Brittany said, playfully hitting Robin's arm.

When it was just the two young heroes left in the room, Roy quickly got up from his seat and pressed his lips against Tash's before she could react. As Tash realized what was going on, she hastily kissed Roy back, putting an arm around his neck to pull him closer. Roy gently pulled away from Tash's lips, and tilted her chin up so she could see into his eyes.

"I love you," Roy mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that? You need to speak a bit louder," Tash said teasingly, as Roy rolled his eyes.

"I _said_: I. Love. You," Roy said, kissing her between every word.

"I love you too, asshole," Tash responded, kissing him more intensively. Her cheeks began to flush and she became rather warm. Her heart rate lines on the heart rate monitor started zig-zagging rapidly, causing them to stop.

"Looks like someone's a little excited," Roy drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, shut up," Tash smirked, gently whacking him on the chest.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****OCTOBER 1, 18:13 EDT****  
**

At the Cave, Kaldur and Robin were busy sparring with each other using the computer's holo-training system. Brittany and Tash were watching from afar, whilst debating whether it would be better for Brittany to go as a full-on spider, or go as herself (Spider-Girl) to the Happy Harbor Halloween Dance on October 31st. Captain Marvel and—this time—Zatara were watching the two boys spar; keeping track of their scores.

Robin and Aqualad stopped sparring when Conner, M'gann and Wolf entered the Cave. Brittany and Tash walked over to the two boys.

"You know they're a couple, right?" Robin said quietly to the other three.

"I believe I knew before they did," Aqualad agreed, as Brittany snorted at his response.

"It wasn't very hard to work out," Brittany smirked, standing next to Robin. They both held hands, as Tash eyed Robin closely. Well, she wasn't going to be the protective older sister—she was just going to act as the annoying one.

The four of them saw Wally and Artemis enter the Cave.

"Do we tell them?" Robin asked.

"It is not our place," Kaldur decided.

The last ones to arrive were Kat and Joe, who were as per usual: talking about stupid nonsense.

"—because heels are a male invention designed to make a woman's butt look smaller. And to make it harder for them to run away. You get what I'm sayin'?" Kat chattered from her and Joe's previous conversation.

"No," Joe said flatly.

Kat groaned. "You didn't listen to a single word I just said, didn't you?"

"Nope," Joe quipped.

"Argh! You are literally too stupid to insult, you butt-crack!" And Kat stomped off towards Artemis.

Tash, Robin and Britt were sniggering at Kat's statement; Kaldur giving them a disapproving look.

Joe and Wally walked over to the four team mates standing in the middle.

"So if Zatara's our babysitter of the week—ugh—why's _he_ still here?" Joe pointed towards Captain Marvel.

"And why is he eating my snacks?" Wally complained, watching Captain munch on a protein bar.

Suddenly, the computer stated someone entering the Cave.

"Recognized; Batman – 02."

"Computer: national news," Batman announced, as the computer's holo-screen appeared, screening the national news.

Reporting live from the scene in Metropolis was the news reporter, Cat Grant.

"I frickin' hate this lady," Kat whispered to Artemis.

"_The initial attack was short-lived. But Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve."_

Live footage was shown of a giant mutated plant monster attacking a building in Metropolis, with the building soon exploding afterwards. It showed another clip of Superman flying in to save civilians stranded on top of another building.

"_And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."_

More footage was shown of Hawkman, Hawkwoman and John Stewart attacking a plant monster in Metropolis.

"Should we get out there?" Robin asked Batman, standing alert.

Batman turned to face the Team. "No. The League will soon have the situation under control. That's why I'm here."

Another screen that contained the image of Sportsmaster popped up.

"According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus' Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom," Wally explained in a rush.

"Which the Brain used to create his animal army," Brittany interjected.

"And upgrade Wolf," Conner said, rubbing under Wolf's chin.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary," M'gann added.

"Batman, is it possible that the plant junk's on Kobra Venom, too?" Kat asked, not even being worried about using her word etiquette to speak to Bats.

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis," Batman stated. "The vine's cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant."

"These cannot be coincidences," Kaldur noted.

Robin brought up his own holo-screen and began typing, quietly discussing things with Brittany in the process.

"Unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide," Kaldur continued.

"Exactly," Batman confirmed. "It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of… secret society of supervillains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"You got that right," Robin piped up. Five new holo-screens showed up layering over the bigger screen. "Plant creatures have sprouted—in Gotham City, Paris, New York, Star City, Taipei—"

Suddenly, all of the screens started letting off white noise, as their connections got cut.

"Dude," Wally began.

"It's not me," Robin said.

"Someone's cutting into the satellite signal," Brittany noticed.

"All satellite signals," Robin finished for her.

The computer's holo-screens suddenly changed into a live video image of the Joker.

Tash gasped at the sight of him.

"Hey, you okay?" Artemis asked her.

"Yeah," Tash answered weakly. Ever since the kidnapping by Luthor and the villains, Tash couldn't help but still feel a little shaken up, even by the slightest mention of them.

Joker tapped his head with his hand to introduce himself.

"_Ladies and gentlemen… we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem…"_ He flipped out his pocket knife. _"…to bring you this important announcement…" _He turned the camera onto the group of villains who were part of Tash's kidnapping. _"…from the Injustice League, ha ha ha." _

The leader of the supervillain group, Count Vertigo, spoke. _"We are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them, a ransom of 10 billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit, but the longer your governments wait…"_

Joker turned the camera towards his face again. _"The more we get to have our… jollies." _He started cackling like a maniac and the screens went off.

Batman got a message from his comm. "Roger that, Aquaman. The UN will prepare the ransom as a fall-back. But it _won't _come to that."

Robin continued typing again, this time, Tash was by his side.

Robin re-winded the video and paused at where the camera was on the Injustice League.

"Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra-Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, and Wotan. Seven heavy hitters," Tash pointed out. "Especially when grouped up with Lex Luthor."

"Probably behind everything and everyone we've faced," Robin explained.

"There's your secret society," Joe commented.

"Not so secret anymore," Artemis chided.

"Perhaps after India…" Kaldur started. "…they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer."

"Yeah? Well, that was their mistake," Wally said, raising a fist. "Right now, I say we go kick some plant creature butt." And he and Kat high-fived each other, thinking they looked like pro's.

"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman negated. "I have a different job for this team."

"Oh, man—ow!" Wally groaned in pain when Artemis hit him in the shoulder.

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously," Bats continued, "there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."

"You realize what you're really asking them to do?" Zatara chimed in.

"They're ready."

"Ready for what—ow!" Both Wally and Kat got hit by Artemis.

"Hello, dumb nuts! If the bug guns are fighting plants, then who do you think _we'll _be fighting?" Artemis asked.

"Dafuq should I know—"Kat began, but Artemis just pointed to the screen of the Injustice League.

"Oh…" Kat and Wally said simultaneously.

"Well, Batman, I trust you're correct," Zatara agreed with Bats.

"I trust you can locate the enemy," Batman said.

"Indeed," Zatara assured. "Wotan's involvement suggests sorcery is part of how the plants are controlled." He looked over at Robin. "Robin, if you would provide a holo-map."

Robin started typing away.

"I'll search for signs of concentrated sorcerous activity." And Zatara began his location spell.

_"Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!"_ Zatara chanted towards the holo-map.

"There," he said, locating the sorcery's activity. "That is where you will find the Injustice League's central control system."

"Coordinates locked in," Robin confirmed. "The Louisiana Bayou."

"We are on our way," Kaldur affirmed.

As the Team went to depart for their mission, Batman stopped Tash and Captain Marvel.

"Captain Marvel," Batman ordered, stopping the hero from going any further. "For this plan to succeed, the entire Justice League must be seen fighting the plant creatures. You, Zatara, and I are needed elsewhere."

"And… what about me?" Tash asked, having been pumped to go on the mission to destroy the control center.

"As for you, your help has been requested in Star City," Batman explained.

"Wha—wouldn't I be better off going to New York, though?" Tash offered; not even having to think twice about who requested her help.

"S.H.I.E.L.D and the X-Men have the city under control. But right now, your help is also needed elsewhere," Batman explained.

"This better be worth it…" Tash muttered underneath her breath, as she quickly walked to her room in the Cave.

She went inside her room and took out her Green Lantern power ring. The ring's usual green glow had gone dull. That only meant one thing.

"Ugh, why didn't I charge this last night?" Tash groaned.

She put her ring on her finger and walked over to her Power Ring's battery source (her Green _Lantern_). She aimed her ring at the lantern and proceeded to charging it up to full power.

She cleared her throat.

_"In brightest day, in blackest night,_

_No evil shall escape my sight._

_Let those who worship evil's might,_

_Beware my power… Green Lantern's light!"_

Her power ring lit up with its usual green will power again. Tash willed herself to be suited up in her Green Lantern uniform.

"Mhmm, that feels better now," she yawned, stretching her neck right round.

She gracefully flew out of her room and entered the Zeta-Beam platform.

"Recognized; Green Lantern Girl – B07."

* * *

**STAR CITY  
****OCTOBER 1, 16:53 PDT****  
**

"Recognized; Green Lantern Girl – B07."

Tash arrived at the ever so familiar broken down blue telephone box in Star City.

"God, I feel like I'm Doctor Who whenever I come here," Tash stated to herself.

She suddenly heard really loud, piercing canary cries coming from the Star City Bridge.

"And that would be my cue."

She flew over to the bridge just in time to see Black Canary running across the bridge and use her canary cry to cut off parts of the plant creature. Black Canary looked up to see her fellow Green Lantern arrive at the scene.

"Glad you could make it," Canary called out.

"Batman said I was needed here. Can I take a good guess on who requested me?" She and Black Canary ran over to both Green and Red Arrow, dodging the plant creatures.

"We all wanted you here," Roy replied, as he and GA shot arrows at the plant creature.

"Say, what?" Tash asked, using her ring to create a handheld GE M134 Minigun to start shooting at the plant creature.

"We requested you here because we believe someone else decided to join the party," Green Arrow surmised.

"But, who?" Tash asked, shooting multiple bullets at the plant creature.

Before anyone could answer, Black Canary jumped atop of a school bus, using her canary cry to fend off the plants. Both Red and Green Arrow shot their arrows at the plant creature, but it ended up swinging itself at Black Canary, knocking her off her feet. It grabbed the school bus and threw it off the bridge.

But as the bus was about to crash into the city's river, something stopped it from falling. The four heroes ran to the side of the bridge to see what had happened: another Green Lantern caught the school bus with a giant, green, will-powered baseball mitt.

"_That's_ who I was talking about," Green Arrow pointed to the red-headed Green Lantern.

"Guy?!" Tash exclaimed in disbelief.

"Tasha! Fancy seeing _you _here!" Guy said cheerily, getting the school bus to a safe landing, then flew back to the bridge.

"What are you doing here?! Hal and the Guardians are gonna kill you!" Tash yelled.

"Why's that, Sunshine?" Guy asked foolishly, pretending not to know why Tash was totally pissed.

"You're on probation, remember?" Tash reminded him.

"Uh—who is this guy?" Roy asked, wondering what the hell they were talking about.

"Guy Gardner: Green Lantern of Earth, Sector 2814," Guy stated.

"Right," Roy quipped, still not feeling very satisfied due to the not-so-happy look Tash was giving her fellow Green Lantern.

"I hope you know the consequences for breaching probation rules," Tash scolded. She sighed in despair, as she realized there was still a giant plant monster they had to defeat. "But in the meantime, just do us all a favor and help fend this thing off."

"My pleasure," Guy agreed, and the five heroes started attacking the monster again.

* * *

**BAYOU BARTHOLOMEW  
****OCTOBER 1, 18:52 CDT****  
**

The Team were currently sitting in the Bio Ship, entering the Louisiana Bayou.

Ever since their last mission, the Team's seating had changed somewhat: Robin sat at the front with Aqualad. Spider-Girl, Kid Flash and Artemis sat down Robin's right. Superboy (along with Wolf), Havok and Cat Girl sat down Aqualad's left. Miss Martian sat in the middle, controlling the ship as usual.

As the Bio Ship drifted its way through the bayou, the Team were preparing for their mission. Robin was helping adjust one of Spider-Girl's web slingers, Artemis was picking out which arrows to use, Havok was shifting his chest plate around, and of course, Cat Girl was sharpening her cat claws with a dangerous looking nail-file.

KF noticed a black duffel bag sitting near Aqualad's feet.

"What's in the duffel?" He asked.

Aqualad looked up at the speedster. "Plan B."

"What's Plan A?" Kat asked obnoxiously, as everyone else face palmed.

Suddenly, Miss Martian groaned, clutching her head.

"You alright?" Superboy asked.

"Dizzy," she answered.

"Martian's get airsick?" Robin asked.

"She does look a bit greener than usual," KF stated.

"Not me, her," Miss M responded.

"Who exactly would be 'her'?" Brittany queried, looking at the other two girls.

"Not you girls—the Bio Ship. She's trying to shield us, but—"

Out of the blue, waves and waves of what seemed to be nausea kept attempting to steer the Bio Ship off its course. A loud bang hit the bottom of the Bio Ship, causing it to tumble over into the marshlands. The Team were all disoriented from the crazy plummet, as the ship got pulled down from the enemy's plant creatures.

Somebody roughly tore open a crevice in the Bio Ship's roof: it was Black Adam.

Miss Martian clutched her temples in pain. "He's hurting her."

Receiving the message, Superboy jumped up through the crevice, and punched Black Adam away.

Water started spurting through the gap the villain made, quickly filling the ship with water.

"No," Artemis protested. "No way am I nearly drowning three missions in a row."

Everyone else (except Miss Martian, Aqualad, Wolf and Superboy) put on re-breathers, Artemis offering one to KF.

"Er… thanks," Kid accepted, taking the re-breather.

Miss Martian was still clutching her head in pain.

"M'gann, we need to get out," Superboy urged. "Open a hatch."

Miss M seemed to snap back into reality.

"Hello, Megan," she cursed, face-palming herself. "Of course."

She morphed herself into having gills, and went underwater to open a hatch for everyone.

_[Out! Everyone, out!] _Aqualad commanded.

The Team swam out, one by one, and reached the surface. They met solid ground within the marshes. Miss Martian and Superboy watched as the plants brought down the Bio Ship.

"She's in shock," Miss M informed. "She'll need time to recover."

The whole team suddenly let out cries of pain, as waves of nausea got into their heads.

"Vertigo," KF said, weakly looking up to see the royal supervillain himself.

"_Count_ Vertigo to you, peasant," Vertigo sneered, using more of his vertigo waves to knock down the Team.

Superboy resisted the headache Vertigo was giving him and attempted to attack him. But he was too slow, and Black Adam threw him to the ground.

Aqualad got up and took out his Water-Bearers. He used the water from the swamp and roughly snaked it towards Vertigo, knocking him back into the trees.

_[Robin, Cat Girl, Miss Martian, disappear.] _Aqualad ordered. _[We will keep them busy. You three fulfill the mission objective.]_

_[Roger that, Fishboy.] _Kat agreed, as she and Robin ran off and Miss Martian changed into camouflage mode, following suit.

Black Adam punched Aqualad across the face, Wolf attacking him afterwards.

Artemis and Havok took their aim at Black Adam, but he chucked Wolf at them both, causing them to collapse.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****OCTOBER 1, 17:37 EDT****  
**

"_Captain, are you sure about this?" _Nick Fury asked through his comm.

"Yes, sir. I am," Steve answered, standing in front of his assembled Captain America suit and equipment.

"_Make sure you thank Coulson when you get the chance,"_ Fury added.

"Roger that," Steve affirmed, carefully raising his shield at waist height.

"_In the meantime, get suited up and head on over to the nearest quinjet. Fury, out."_

After Cap got changed and sorted into his patriotic uniform, he headed towards the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier's hangar to find Black Widow and Hawkeye waiting for him at one of the quinjets.

"You feeling nervous, Cap?" Hawkeye asked, trying to ease the tension of working with a way older dude.

"Just a bit. It's been a while since I've been back in action," Steve answered with the slightest amount of hope in his voice. "Should be fun."

"Well… good, because you're about to meet the rest of the party," Black Widow conceded.

"May I ask who's invited to this party?" Steve asked, wondering what these two had in store for him.

Hawkeye and Black Widow exchanged glances before look back at Cap.

"You'll find out soon enough," Black Widow answered, as the three of them boarded the jet. A few more S.H.I.E.L.D agents took the liberty of accompanying the three on the trip downtown.

Black Widow and another agent were piloting, whilst Hawkeye sat next to Steve with the other two S.H.I.E.L.D agents sitting across from them; both agents looking at Captain in awe. It started to make Steve feel a bit uncomfortable.

"I don't like the way those two are looking at me," Cap whispered to his companion.

Hawkeye got the message and whispered back, "Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." He looked up at the two agents who kept staring at Captain.

"Hey, prissy boys. Be conscious of where your eyeballs are aimed," he said to the men sitting in front of him. "Respect the elderly."

And that seemed to do the trick.

"That wasn't really necessary, Barton," Steve pointed out to the archer.

"Of course it was," Clint protested. "You asked for it, anyway."

"No, I didn't—"

"Hey, boys. We're landing in five. I suggest you start getting ready for your big show," Black Widow called from the front. It didn't take them long to descend from the Helicarrier and make their way to New York.

"Of course," Steve agreed, already standing up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Cap, what are you doing?" Hawkeye asked, clearly worried about the old man.

The jet's doors opened whilst it was still in mid-air.

Cap looked about ready to jump.

"Be careful, Captain," Black Widow cautioned flatly. "Those plants aren't your everyday rose bushes."

"Trust me, ma'am. There are many types of roses in New York, and they don't look like that." And Cap took the jump down into the streets of Manhattan.

The other three men, now standing in the back, looked over where Captain America had jumped.

"Was he even wearing a parachute?" One of the agents asked, looking aghast.

"Nope," Hawkeye answered.

As Cap descended to the lowered depths of NYC, he landed with a heavy thud, covering himself with his shield as one of the plant creatures were about to swat him out of the air.

Steve quickly trudged along a row of damaged cars parked by a nearby curb side, and spotted a familiar-looking figure swinging through the streets of Manhattan: it was Spider-Man.

"How's it going, Cap?" Spidey asked, dodging a plant monster.

"Interesting so far," Steve answered, being completely honest.

"Good, because things are gonna get even more interesting, if you pay close attention." And Spider-Man swung his way across from another tall building, shooting _a lot_ of webbing at a nearby plant creature. Maybe it wasn't going to be as easy Cap thought it would.

* * *

**BAYOU BARTHOLOMEW  
****OCTOBER 1, 19:34 CDT****  
**

Black Adam had defeated the remaining members of the Team, leaving them unconscious on the ground before him. Count Vertigo came over to check on them, and noticed a few missing members.

"Two are missing," he growled at his accomplice.

Robin, Cat Girl and Miss Martian silently made their way through the forest parts of the marshes. Believe it or not, Kat could be very silent when she wanted to be. She didn't start hanging with Catwoman and Batman for nothing. Robin was on his gauntlet holo-computer, Miss Martian was hovering in camouflage-mode, and Kat was getting her new heels covered in mud.

_[I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others.] _Miss Martian informed the other two. _[Should-]_

_[Sorry, that's not the gig. This is.] _Robin thought, as he stopped and pushed palm leaves out of the way to reveal their location. _[The Injustice League's central control system.]_

The domed building looked like a facility crossed between a greenhouse. A gigantic plant creature (the biggest of them all) was rooted right in the middle of the building, making it pretty obvious that it was where the rest of the plants were being controlled.

_[Looks like that plant is acting as an antenna to control the other plants worldwide.] _Robin continued.

Suddenly, a female voice interrupted the three young heroes.

"Well, hello," Poison Ivy drawled, as she used her powers to make three plant creatures erupt from the ground and wrap themselves around the three youths.

The three of them grunted in pain, as Ultra-Humanite landed to next to Ivy from one of the trees, holding a machine gun. The gorilla aimed the gun at each of them, watching them struggle.

"And goodbye," Poison Ivy fare-welled.

As Ultra-Humanite was about to shoot Miss Martian, she used her telepathy to make his shot hit the plant creatures instead. The trio ran off, each of them going in different directions. Ivy decided to attack Robin first.

"Sorry, Boy Wonder. I'm putting an end to your little reconnaissance mission," Ivy raised her hands and made her plant creatures go after Robin. Being the acrobat he was, he managed to dodge every single one of them.

Ivy then turned to Kat, who was busy clawing at some of the other plants. Ivy wrapped one of her plants around Kat, who just hissed in return.

"Hey, Kitty-Kat. I heard from Catwoman that you've been a bad little feline lately. Is that true?"

"Shut your Venus flytrap. Catwoman says a lot of things," Kat hissed.

"Aw… what's wrong, kitty? _Cat got your tongue?_"

That was enough to set the match on fire.

"Ha ha ha ha ha—FUCK YOU. I forgot how much you liked to use stupid-ass puns," Kat sneered.

"Ooh, I forgot how much you loved to curse until your mouth hurt," Ivy said, clearly amused.

"Oh, girl, don't worry." Kat snarked, as she watched Ivy's smirk turn into a deadly frown.

"Show me what you got," Ivy said, anger rising within her.

"Oh, okay, _Pamela Isley_," Kat used Poison Ivy's real name. "Or… Fuck Face. First, take a big step back and literally… FUCK YOUR OWN FACE!" Everyone else, even Robin, Ultra-Humanite and Miss Martian stopped what they were doing. "Now, I don't know what kind of Pan Pacific bullshit power play you're trying to pull here, but Ivy, cities are my territory, so whatever you're thinking, you better think again, otherwise, I'm gonna have to head on down to you and I will rain down in a godly fucking firestorm upon you. You're going to have to call the fucking United Nations to get a fucking _binding resolution_ to keep me from fucking destroying you. I am talking _scorched earth_, MOTHERFUCKER. I WILL MASSACRE YOU! I WILL FUCK YOU UP!"

Both Robin and Miss Martian groaned in both dismay and embarrassment.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Team were found to be sitting in golden makeshift cage.

"They awaken," Vertigo announced. "You're certain this will hold them?"

Count Vertigo was standing on top of the metal cage, which was being controlled by Wotan, with Black Adam holding it, flying in mid-air.

"The cage is impenetrable," Wotan assured. "Even the Superboy has no chance of escaping."

Aqualad went up to the metal bars holding them back. "You are not the only one trained in the mystic arts, Wotan." He tried to his own powers against the cage, but had no such luck.

"Please, Altlantean, do not pretend you're in my league," Wotan taunted.

As the fight between Poison Ivy and Cat Girl continued, Robin and Miss Martian kept dodging attacks.

Miss M flew over to Robin, bringing him news. _[Robin, she's made contact.]_

_[Who?] _Robin asked, unaware of whom Miss M was trying to talk about.

_[The Bio Ship.]_ She answered.

They both looked up, and immediately saw the mystic cage holding the rest of their team, heading towards the control center.

The Bio Ship suddenly came out of nowhere, and flew over to the cage, knocking over Wotan into the bayou. The Team, along with Vertigo and Black Adam, rapidly fell from the sky.

Black Adam swooped up and grabbed Count Vertigo, but the other villain just yelled in frustration.

"Not me! Stop those delinquents!"

The Team landed in the marsh, facing Ultra-Humanite. Superboy stood up alongside Wolf, getting ready to take on the gorilla in front of them.

"I hate monkeys," was all Superboy had to say for himself, as he lunged at the great ape.

Aqualad, Havok and Artemis saw Poison Ivy knock out Kat, causing them to reach for their weapons and partake in using them, but they found their weapons had vanished.

"Ugh, I feel naked. And not in a fun way," Artemis complained, reaching to get arrows out of her quiver, but they weren't there.

"Hey, _you _feel naked? How about having a gaping hole in your clothes to leave your chest bare?" Havok fired at her. Artemis blushed at the sight of Joe's chest. That was something she simply was not used to seeing every day.

The three of them got most of Poison Ivy's attention, causing her to attack them.

"We will make our own fun, then," Aqualad said, dodging a plant, "as we have been trained. Maneuver seven."

Aqualad held both his hands out for Artemis to step on, as she ran up and jumped high in the air, to kick Poison Ivy in the face.

That left Kid Flash and Spider-Girl to deal with Count Vertigo and Black Adam. Spider-Girl didn't have her web-slingers on due to them being robbed, so she had to rely on her reflexes to help her.

KF started speeding towards Vertigo through the mud, but the villain used his power to slow him down with nauseating pain. When KF got close enough, Black Adam whacked him away to deal with the wall-crawler. Well, that title wasn't very useful when there were no walls to crawl up.

Yes, Brittany had dealt with the Hulk before—she even had a small encounter with a rogue Superman, but the only problems with those were: she never won any battles with them. So, Black Adam was definitely gonna crush her tiny figure, unless she actually moved, which was hard since she was stuck in the mud. Literally.

Brittany took a deep breath, and she knew what had to be done. She had no choice but to do flips and shit. She dodged Vertigo's power wave tunnel, and did a few flips to kick Black Adam in the face. It worked, but only for about five seconds until Count Vertigo aimed his power at Brittany, causing her to have the biggest headache of her life.

"Where are Robin and the two girls?" Vertigo snapped at Black Adam.

Neither of them could still answer that.

Over with the rest of the Team battling Ultra-Humanite and Poison Ivy, Robin had managed to sneak past the two villains and sabotage the Injustice League's control center.

Poison Ivy looked up at her main plant that had been taking control, as she gasped in horror.

"My baby," she simpered. Robin had covered the entire plant with his explosive batarangs.

Within seconds, the entire thing blew apart, making it shriek and collapse around the green house dome.

Robin, Cat Girl and Miss Martian were standing on top of where the plant had briefly died; Kat giving Poison Ivy the deadliest look she could give.

"Timber," Robin quipped, but slowly wished he could eat back his words when Poison Ivy unleashed more _very_ giant plant creatures from the ground. Luckily, Miss Martian was the telekinetic Martian she was, and could obliterate the plants into a million tiny pieces before it attacked anyone.

As the trio thought they were in the clear, they got blasted out of nowhere, revealing the Joker and Atomic Skull.

"Children?" Joker asked (more so to himself), looking at the young team members in disbelief. "Children foiled our plan?"

Atomic Skull kept blasting at them, causing a distraction for Joker.

"Inconceivable," Joker continued. "Unacceptable. Retributionable!" He paused for moment. "That last one might not be a word. So sue me."

The Team were surrounded by the Injustice League.

"Kill them," Vertigo ordered. "Kill them all."

The battle kept ensuing, until Wotan raised himself up.

"Enough!" He commanded.

Robin through a couple of his batarangs at him, but it was no use. He was a magician… or sorcerer, or whatever was powerful enough to stop that.

Wotan sent electric currents through every member of the Team without fail. Resisting the pain of the electricity, Aqualad used his water powers to hold back the electric currents going through him and Miss Martian, as they both had no choice but do what they had to.

"Plan B," Aqualad said, nodding to Miss Martian.

Miss M motioned the Bio Ship in camouflage mode to fly over them and drop off the duffel bag that carried Plan B. Aqualad caught it, and opened it up to put on…

"The Helmet of Fate," Wotan said, stopping the electric currents.

Kid Flash staggered up and looked at Aqualad in disbelief. "No, Aqualad, don't! Agh!"

Black Adam had punched him away, only to get punched back by Superboy. The Atlantean put on the helmet, and turned into Doctor Fate, despite Kid's protest.

"Aw, dude," Wally said, clutching his arm, as he watched Aqualad/Doctor Fate fly into the air to challenge Wotan.

"Wotan, you are mine," the magician announced to the other sorcerer.

As the two magic-men battled it out, the Joker decided to have 'fun' with Robin.

"Wonderboy, you are mine," he mimicked the sound of Nabu's (Doctor Fate's) voice, whilst sliding out his dagger.

He kept slicing at Robin, as Robin flipped backwards at each swipe, trying not get turned into bird food.

"I've always wanted to carve this bird," the Joker said with madness in his eyes.

The rest of the battles kept going—until a certain male voice came from the sky and spoke backwards, casting a spell on the evil sorcerer.

"Not tonight, Wotan," Zatara called, as he more Leaguers followed suit.

The entire Justice League had arrived (yes, the _entire_ League) had arrived at the scene. Even Tash was there.

"It's over," Batman said.

The Injustice League resorted to putting their hands up in defeat.

"There will be another day," Count Vertigo proposed.

"Another day?" Joker asked, clearly angry about this whole debacle. "Another day? There won't be another day! Not for any of us! Ha ha ha!"

Joker then raised his hands and found that he could still control the plant creatures, but only to release his joker venom, causing the gas to explode everywhere.

"Joker-Venom spores! Don't breathe!" Batman warned everyone.

The Joker just cackled in maniacal laughter, as Batman punched him square in the jaw.

Doctor Fate/Aqualad quickly rose up into the air.

"Fear not!" He exclaimed, raising his golden symbol. He started to magically drain the gas away, leaving the air breathable again. "Fate has intervened."

* * *

As the League dealt with the villainous criminals, the people left remaining were the Team (including Doctor Fate) along with Batman, Zatara, Captain Marvel, Aquaman and Green Lantern Girl.

Kid Flash (along with his now broken arm) practically yelled at Miss Martian for letting Aqualad put the helmet on.

"How could you let him put on the helmet?" KF said in frustration. "Nabu will never release him now. Kaldur will be trapped inside Doctor Fate forever."

Then, the surprising thing happened: Kaldur took off the Helmet of Fate, releasing him from Nabu's power. KF ran up to Aqualad.

"Nabu let you go?"

"He almost did not," Kaldur answered, now holding the helmet. "But your friend Kent was most helpful. He says, 'Hello.'"

"We're done here," said the voice of Batman. "The supervillains' secret society has been neutralized. As for your performance…" The Team waited expectantly for an answer. "…it was satisfactory."

The Team smiled to each other, but Kat always had the last say on the matter.

"It better have been," she sassed (Kat never really paid attention to her attitude towards League members, especially Batman). "I cursed her out as if this were _Tropic Thunder_."

"You quoted your entire rant from _Tropic Thunder_," Robin scoffed, as Miss Martian and Superboy looked at them questioningly. They obviously had not seen the movie.

"Whatever. I'm tired," and Kat made her way to the Bio Ship, as did the rest of the Team.

* * *

**Well, that was a weird chapter. Excuse Kat's language, but that's just the type of person she is. Let me know if she reminds you of anyone you might know.**

**Yay, next chapter I'm introducing Zatanna… yay… **

**Okay, okay. Don't get me wrong, I love Zatanna as a character (you just wait for Book 2. You're gonna love me—I think), but I will say this again: I HATE 'CHALANT'. With a burning passion. (Sorry to those who like that pairing… Rob's with Brittany now… PEACE!)**

**Also, sorry to those that ship Dick/Babs. I love that pairing as well… just not for this story. I'm sorry. Brittany/Robin all the way (and also Nightwing… SPOILERS!) *fist pump***

**Please review/favorite/follow and what have you, and stay tuned for more!**

… **Happy Reading …. **

**;D**


	26. Kat Actually Makes a Friend

**Chapter 25: Kat Actually Makes a Friend**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****OCTOBER 10, 16:58 EDT****  
**

"Pineapple juice?" Captain Marvel handed the injured Wally a tall glass of ice cold pineapple juice with a mini-pink umbrella in it.

Wally took a sip of his juice in satisfaction. "Ah. Just what the doctor ordered."

"How's the arm doing, Wally?" Captain Marvel asked, as Wally laid back in his armchair.

"Well, nothing wrong nachos can't cure," Wally yawned, trying to get Captain Marvel to do his bidding.

"Nachos? Oh, I'll go get you some!" And Captain flew off to the Cave's kitchen, leaving Wally smirking to himself, as Robin got thrown to the floor, as he trained with Brittany (Note: Brittany was the one who threw him to the floor). M'gann was training with Kaldur, whilst Kat was trying to scratch Conner's face off. Joe went to go stand beside Wally and be lazy as well, even though he had no injury, whatsoever.

Black Canary walked in with GLG by her side.

"Good work, everyone," Black Canary complimented. "In fact, it's been a very productive week."

"Yeah. Everyone except for Havok No. 2 and Kid Malingerer," Artemis snarked.

"Hey, arm broken in combat against the Injustice League here," Wally pointed out.

"And what about dear Joseph over there—who is also doing nothing?" Artemis asked. "You don't have an injury."

"That's because dear Joseph is my bro, and he's been giving me company whilst you guys have been sweating like pigs, trying to not kill each other in training," Wally explained in the same tone as Artemis.

"Heh, I've really enjoyed being your—uh—den mother this week," Black Canary said, shaking her head.

Suddenly, the computer recognized someone.

"Recognized; Zatara – 11."

Zatara walked in from the Zeta-Beam and brought up a holo-screen. He started to allow the computer recognition for another person.

"Access granted; Zatanna Zatara – A03. Authorization; Zatara – 11."

Zatara stepped forward to speak. "Zatanna, this is the Team." He gestured towards everyone else. "Team, my daughter, Zatanna."

A girl who looked about the same age as Brittany and Robin shyly stepped forward from the Zeta-Beam tube. Zatanna nervously looked up at everyone, as M'gann started to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm—" M'gann started, but quickly got cut off by Kat.

"Kat! Ahem. I mean, _I'm _Kat, heh," Kat hastily introduced, trying to fade out the awkwardness she'd created. Kat decided to introduce the rest of the Team. "She's M'gann, uh, and that's Wally, Robin, Brittany, Joe, Kaldur, Artemis and Conner. And if you wanna include Tash—then there's Tash."

"Welcome to the Cave," Aqualad greeted in a _much_ more formal manner than Kat.

"Uh, thanks," Zatanna accepted.

'So, uh, are you joining the Team?" Kat asked… a little bit too eagerly for everyone else's liking.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara interrupted, walking over to the two girls. "This is strictly a visit." He turned to Black Canary. "Though I am sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatanna could benefit from."

_[Do you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?] _M'gann asked the Team, excluding Zatara, Tash, Black Canary and Zatanna.

_[Not just Zatara.] _Brittany answered. _[I mean, why's Marvel still hanging around?]_

_[Because we _like_ having him around.] _Wally thought, sharing triumphant looks with Joe.

_[_You_ like having him around because he waits on you hand and foot.] _Artemis sassed.

_[And your point is?] _Joe asked.

_[It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor.] _Kaldur thought.

_[Yeah. At least he trusted us.] _Robin added.

_[If you ignore the fact that we shouldn't have trusted him. He was a traitor.] _Conner complained.

_[Oh my frickin' gosh! We get it. He almost killed your Martian girlfriend.] _Kat raised an eyebrow, with an annoyed expression on her face.

Zatanna had noticed their long silence from physically talking to each other along with Kat's very clear facial expressions, so she spoke up. "Are you guys having a psychic conversation?"

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Because I can't decide if that's cool or really rude," she continued.

Conner decided to spill the beans. "Alright, fine. We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack, and the League hasn't told us anything."

"The League is searching for Tornado, as well as the other androids that invaded the Cave and their creator, T.O. Morrow," Black Canary explained. "Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority."

"But you've found none of the above," Robin chipped in.

"Not yet, but Tornado is Justice League. The Team is _not_ to pursue this."

"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a—uh—tour of the Cave?" Zatara asked, getting onto a different subject.

Whilst the team's attention had been focused on Black Canary, they didn't notice Zatanna over in the corner stroking Wolf's fur on the floor.

"Ah. You're giving a tour? Cool," Captain Marvel said, holding Wally's plate of nachos.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside," Conner stopped the older hero. "He needs the exercize. We'll join you in a few."

Of course, Captain Marvel believed him. "Sure, sure. I can do that." He turned to Wolf. "C'mon, Wolf." And he ran off with the big dog, still carrying Wally's plate of food.

"Wha—my nachos!" Wally cried, but Conner grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him off.

As the Team went to walk along the Cave's corridors, Zatanna ran up beside Kat to catch up… wearing different clothes than she was before.

"When did you—? How did you—?" Kat started.

"We're not _really_ taking a tour, are we?" Zatanna complained—slightly.

Conner stopped them. "No. We're hunting down that robot."

He looked over at Kaldur, who agreed. "Yes. We are."

"Oh, wow. Out loud and everything," Zatanna said, impressed—slightly.

"What about New Girl?" Brittany asked.

"I'm sure she won't tell," Kat shrugged, being very sure of her.

"I can't tell," Zatanna turned to the blonde. "Not if you kidnap me."

"Oh, she's gonna fit in great," Artemis approved.

As the Team sat in the Bio Ship, everyone was seated in their usual spots, except this time Kat was sitting next to Zatanna.

The Bio Ship's intercom suddenly radioed a message from the Cave.

"_M'gann, the Bio Ship wasn't authorized for departure," _Black Canary addressed.

"We're kidnapping Zatanna—uh—to show her Happy Harbor," M'gann said quickly. "Be back soon."

"_Roger that. Uh… have fun,"_ Black Canary affirmed.

As time passed by, curiosity killed the cat. Not literally. But it killed the silence.

"Where are we going?" Robin piped up. "Batman is the world's greatest detective and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution." He turned to the three amigos (Kat, Wally and Joe). "A truly dumb idea."

Everyone was staring at them, expecting a dumb answer.

"As a matter of fact…" Wally began, looking at the two twins sitting beside him.

* * *

**BELLE REVE  
****OCTOBER 10, 18:35 CDT****  
**

"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break," M'gann explained, as she and the Team stood in front of none other than Professor Ivo.

"He's given us five minutes with you," M'gann continued, leaning on the desk to death stare Ivo.

"Spill, Ivo," Conner said forcefully. "How do we find T.O. Morrow and his Reds?"

"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo asked in that irksome voice of his.

"Because—and here's a truly dumb idea…" Wally said. "You're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game."

Kat and Zatanna sat at the back table, listening to the interrogation.

"Who better to keep track of what he's up to and where?" Joe finished.

"Ah, I see your point," Ivo vaguely agreed. "So let me rephrase: why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?"

"He knows," Kaldur stepped forward next to M'gann. "Do what you must."

M'gann attempted to read his mind using telepathy, but it ceased to work.

"Oh, please," Ivo drawled. "As if I've never faced a telepath before."

Suddenly, the strangest thing happened: Zatanna was standing behind Ivo's chair and spoke in what seemed to be complete mumbo-jumbo.

"_Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol,"_ she said all in one breath.

"Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park," Ivo hastily stated. "One hundred meters south of Old Faithful."

The whole team looked at Ivo and Zatanna in complete and utter shock.

"What the crud?" Kat asked from behind everyone.

"Wait! What just happened?!" Ivo exclaimed.

The Team left after they got what they came for; Zatanna being more respected by the Team than before. They flew over more and more mountains.

"Lock out all external communication," Kaldur ordered. "Soon Canary, Tash and Zatara—Batman too, I can imagine will know of our visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

"Look, I'm not trying to care about you right away here—" Kat leaned over to Zatanna.

"Why? You can care about me as much as you like," Zatanna interjected, making Kat shut up.

"We're all just trying to get a handle on your powers," Brittany quipped. "Could you… teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender?"

"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna added, looking at her fellow spidey. "Zatara couldn't even do all that and I'm nowhere near on my dad's level. I need to know a spell cold or else have time to prep it. Plus all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will."

"Don't even mention willpower," Kat said. "I get enough of that from Tash being a frickin' Green Lantern."

"Well, you're a pretty witty person for someone who doesn't like willpower," Zatanna marvelled.

"Wha—I haven't even sworn in front of you yet."

"Oh. If you do _that_ regularly—"

"She does," Brittany chipped in.

"—then you'll most certainly want to use your willpower to hold back the curse words," Zatanna stated. And for once, someone actually managed to properly silence Kat. Not even magic had to be used—probably.

"What's our E.T.A to Yellowstone?" Conner asked, clearly annoyed about the situation. "I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."

"Boy knows how I think," Kat smirked.

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur asked.

"Aren't _you?"_ Supes fired back.

Kaldur turned his head away. "I am not convinced. And even so, that makes him but the victim of his creator's programming. Certainly he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the weapon others designed him to be."

Conner got the message, and turned back around to face the front.

* * *

**YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK  
****OCTOBER 10, 20:22 MDT****  
**

As the Team approached landing at the national park, they started to get into gear.

"Stealth mode," Kaldur ordered, touching his Aqualad symbol on his belt, changing into stealth mode.

Everyone else did so too; KF, Spider-Girl, Havok, Artemis and Miss Martian. The others were set.

Zatanna waited at the exit of the Bio Ship, as Kaldur went first.

"I recommend you stay behind," he advised.

"Is that an order?" Zatanna asked.

"No. You must do as you see fit."

"Good."

Zatanna cast another one of her spells.

"_Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool."_

And in a wisp of smoke, she changed into her superhero outfit—or magician's outfit. Whichever.

The Team ran off and took to their location. With Robin ahead, he stopped in a small clearing, bringing up his holo-computer with a map of the location.

"Ivo was right. Something's down there," he informed.

Aqualad ran ahead, as the others followed.

Suddenly, a giant whirlwind was attempting to sweep the Team off their feet. And not in a romantic way either.

It swept them away onto the ground, and to their horror; the Team saw it was Red Tornado causing the psychotic winds.

"Why, Tornado? Why are you doing this?" M'gann exclaimed over the noise of the wind, trying to reason with the robot.

More tornadoes erupted around the Team.

_[Message received?] _M'gann tried with Kaldur and Conner.

"Who cares why? Nail him!" Conner shouted.

He and Kaldur ran off.

"Superboy, maneuver seven!"

Kaldur jumped off of Conner's hands to attack Red Tornado, but he ended up getting heavily punched in the face.

Artemis tried to fend off Tornado with her explosive arrows, but the android just whipped them away like they were nothing, back towards Artemis, Robin and Brittany.

"That does it, Red," Wally exclaimed. "You're not the only spin doctor around here!"

And Wally sped around himself at top speed, making a miniature Kid Flash tornado.

M'gann had tried to creep up behind Tornado, but unfortunately he knew she was there. He threw her into the air, causing her to crash right into Wally's cyclone.

Kat, Joe and Zatanna were the only ones left who were still standing. Zatanna tried with all her concentration to conjure a spell in the middle of the whirlwind.

"_Etaerc a… a… dleihs dnuora ym!"_ She couldn't finish the spell because Tornado had seized her around the neck and threw her to the ground.

"Hey, Rust Bucket!" Joe called, demanding the attention of the psycho android.

"Sorry, but you're trash talk won't work on me today, twins," Tornado said.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST SAY?!" Kat screamed to her brother, clutching her ears.

"It won't matter anyway," Tornado said, tossing the twins aside, leaving the Team unconscious.

Another android came out into the clearing, behind Red Tornado.

"Quite a performance, brother. But we both know that's all it was," the other android said to Tornado.

The android raised himself up on a tall platform of rock, revealing a big message in the ground that read 'PLAY DEAD.'

"I have all your memories, Tornado, plus a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do."

The android lifted the giant piece of rock embedded with the words behind him, as the Team regained consciousness again.

"Blowing a message into the sand." The red android crushed the block and hurled the broken pieces towards the Team.

The Team dodged the boulders, but one of them crashed between Kat and Zatanna.

_[Zatanna?] _Kat asked, looking over dust.

_[I'm good.] _Zatanna confirmed. _[But Red Tornado's getting away.]_

_[Is he abandoning us?] _Artemis asked, running along with her bow in hand.

_[I don't believe that.] _M'gann said, flying over the wreckage of boulders.

Wally sped up towards the other red android, running up the giant tower of rock.

"You stand no chance against me—" He punched KF away. "—humans."

Both Conner and M'gann rose up towards the android.

"We're not human!" They said simultaneously.

"Apologies. I suppose the properly inclusive term is…" He rose two arm-shaped mounds of rock up from the ground and clapped them both onto Conner and M'gann. "…'Meat Bags.'"

The android made a chasm break through the ground, causing Artemis, Kaldur, Kat and Joe to almost fall through, if it weren't for Artemis' rope arrow.

Robin jumped up and threw an explosive batarang at the android. The robot swiftly caught the batarang, but it exploded… which pretty much did nothing to maim the android.

"Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move," the android said, as Brittany swung around him. She attempted to karate chop his buns, but instead, she got thrown aside.

"Argh!" Brittany groaned in annoyance. "Why am I _always_ the weak one?!"

Zatanna ran over to see if Brittany was okay.

"Don't worry, Brittany. I'll cause a distraction."

Zatanna raised her hand. _"Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb!"_

Her spell had caused an amount of the smoke around the android to become a blindfold, making him attempt to pull it off for his vision.

"Tornado never knew _my _moves," Zatanna said.

Kat ran over, as she had seen the whole thing happen.

"I bet you've got some good ones," Kat complimented. Zatanna turned to the other girl, as Kat started to fix up her error. "Whoa! Sorry. That came off a little too feral… A.K.A Catwoman."

"Heh, I don't mind. You're Cat Girl. If you're gonna go into feral mode, just let me know," Zatanna smiled.

In a cloud of rage, the red android shot his laser eye beams into the sky, disintegrating the smoke blindfold. His actions caused the Yellowstone volcano to spit out lava.

Wally skidded over a piece of rock, which was sliding on top of the lava.

_[He's activating a stage two eruption.] _Wally informed. _[If it gets to stage three, kiss the hemisphere goodbye.]_

_[Hit him from all sides.] _Kaldur ordered.

Conner, M'gann and Joe had their goes at the android, but failed at their attempts. Wally crouched into a running position as Zatanna cast another spell.

"_Emoks dna srorrim… Etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli!" _

All the smoke that was billowing from the lava in the ground turned into numerous copies of Wally, as they all ran towards the red android.

Zatanna stood beside Kat. "I—uh—use a scaled down version when I wanna sneak out of the house."

"Righteous!" Kat snorted, taking out her whip.

The red android threw boulders at all the Kid Flashes, excluding the original one, who sped up to M'gann and carried her back down to the rest of the Team.

Behind Kaldur, an eruption of water snaked upwards and pushed the red android into the boiling lava.

"Nice hit!" Robin observed.

"The hit was not mine," Kaldur said. "Look!"

The two boys saw that the water controller was none other than Red Torpedo.

The android Torpedo threw into the lava raised himself on a towering piece of molten rock, but Red Tornado interfered and knocked him off his pedestal, back into the lava. Suddenly, Red Inferno came flying in, using her fire to attack the red android.

"Sister! Brothers! Stop!" The android exclaimed.

The evil red robot went down into the lava along with Red Torpedo and Red Inferno. Red Tornado jumped in, too. Luckily, only his legs got melted into the lava, and Conner quickly pulled him out, landing with the rest of the Team.

Wally was surprisingly the first one to get straight to the point.

"Tornado, listen. We're on the verge of a stage three super volcano eruption. There's no turning back from that. We need to vent pressure fast, but the ash cloud will bring on worldwide nuclear winter unless you divert it!"

Tornado nodded in agreement, as KF turned to Robin.

"Triangulate around the pressure locus," he told Robin.

"Right," Robin affirmed, bringing up a holo-map of the volcano, revealing the points of pressure. "There, there and there."

Artemis set off one of her trick arrows, which separated into three explosives, blowing up three openings in the volcano. Red Tornado flew above the volcano to create a massive tornado. He siphoned off the ash cloud into space, averting the volcanic eruption.

The lava pouring from the volcano vastly hardened into molten rock.

"Yes!" Wally exclaimed in triumph.

* * *

The Team gathered the remnants of Red Tornado into T.O. Morrow's secret underground lair.

Robin, Wally and Brittany had fixed Red Tornado's voice box.

"There. That should do it," Robin sighed in relief, putting an arm around Brittany.

"Yes. I can speak again," Tornado said.

Kaldur stepped forward. "You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet."

"The planet would have survived," Tornado informed. "It is humanity that is saved, though not by me. My sister and my brother were the true heroes this day."

"Who was that other android?" Brittany asked. "He whacked me across the chest." She wheezed as she touched one of her collarbones. "It still hurts."

"That was my younger brother, Red Volcano. My father brought him to life before he got destroyed by him."

"Huh—"

But before they could discuss more on T.O. Morrow, Kaldur mentioned the issue about the mole on the Team.

"My point is this, you were never the mole. Never a traitor."

"No," Tornado admitted. "I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator, Morrow."

Over in a nearby box in the corner, Wally picked up a robotic red hand. "Cool. A souvenir."

Robin picked up a robotic leg. "Reddy, we can rebuild you."

"Better than you were before," Brittany added.

"I do not believe I should be repaired," Tornado gloated.

"Why'd you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?" Conner asked.

"I was the pragmatic choice. I do not require sleep. I have no secret identity or second life to live."

"But you do have advanced A.I. programming designed to learn, adapt and evolve," Brittany pointed out.

"Hello, Megan," M'gann said. "You wanted to become more human."

"And you couldn't do that with the League," Artemis piped up. "They're _stiffs_."

"You're sure not gonna learn emotion from Batman," Robin quipped. "Trust me."

"Then the Cave was not a proving ground only for us, but for you as well," Kaldur figured.

"I do not know if these statements are accurate, but perhaps they are true. And if I understand the term correctly, I believe I have come to care about you all. And yes, even you, Kat." He explained before Kat could open her trap.

"See? Practically a meat bag already," Conner said.

"Which reminds me…" Tornado said.

When the Team departed, and they were on their way to the Cave in the Bio Ship, they knew they were about to get in deep trouble. Well, Zatanna at the most.

"So, good kidnapping?" Kat asked the young magician.

"Actually, yeah," Zatanna approved. "Best ever."

"Heh, first of many, I hope?"

"If my dad doesn't ground me for life."

"Dads are annoying aren't they?" Kat laughed.

"Yeah, I guess," Zatanna grinned, high-fiving the fellow feline.

* * *

"She's grounded for life!" Zatara shouted in Black Canary's face. "'They're good kids, Giovanni.' 'Don't worry, Giovanni.' She's _never_ joining this team!"

BC frowned as Captain Marvel came in with Wolf, who were dripping wet from the rain from outside.

"Um, are they coming out to play or what?" Captain asked drearily.

Over in the Cave's infirmary, Robin was busy trying to repair his injured girlfriend.

Brittany was sitting on one of the tables, as she held an ice pack to her collarbone. Robin printed out an x-ray of the injured area.

"Okay…" Robin said, taking the x-ray sheet from the scanner. "There seems to be no disruption of any ligaments, so that's _super_ good."

Robin took Brittany's right hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"Did you feel that?"

"Yep."

Robin held two fingers to Brittany's neck and then to her wrist, checking her pulse.

"Your pulse is still strong, so there's been no damage to any blood vessels or nerves."

"Okay," Brittany gently took the ice pack off her collarbone, to find a big purple bruise.

"Ooh…" Robin wheezed, looking at the sight of the bruise.

"Does it look that bad?" Brittany asked worriedly.

"It doesn't look super bad, but yes, it looks bad," Robin confirmed. "Judging by your injury, this type of thing should go away in about one to two weeks—for an average person. But for you, because you're Spider-Girl and part Super Soldier, it should only take about three to four days for it to heal."

"I don't get it, though," Brittany protested. "Since I'm part radioactive spider _and_ part Super Soldier, the hit Red Volcano gave me shouldn't have bothered me at all."

"I'm not too sure. Maybe it's the fact that you're fourteen…?" Robin suggested.

"Maybe. But I still should've been able to handle that easily… is this a sign that I'm becoming weaker?"

"I wouldn't say that. Has Spider-Man or your dad had any problems like this?"

"Not really for my dad, although, Spider-Man did lose his powers once. That only happened because of the stress his personal problems had caused him, making him go to the point of overexertion. But—I'm good. I don't have any problems right now, I mean, aside from _this_—but this is nothing."

Robin sighed in defeat. He honestly didn't know what was wrong. But he sure hoped he wasn't the problem.

"You're still perfect to me anyway, Spidey," Robin said, giving Brittany a kiss.

"Thanks, Boy Wonder," Brittany kissed him back.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****OCTOBER 11, 11:18 EDT****  
**

Kat had been minding her own business, walking through the Cave, when she went into the Cave's galley to find nobody other than Kaldur. By the way: Kat was in one of those moods.

Kaldur was sitting down at the kitchen bench, drinking a glass of apple juice. The sixteen year old girl slyly walked over to the bench and started to annoy Kaldur.

"You know, I can never get over the fact on how apple juice looks a lot like pee," Kat greeted, leaning on the kitchen bench.

"Can I help you?" Kaldur asked, looking up from his glass.

"I think you mean: can _I _help _you?_" Kat smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means whatever the fuck you want it to mean," Kat ran her finger along the bench, inching closer towards Kaldur.

"Kat, stop with the flirting," Kaldur pushed her hand away. "…I know you're a lesbian."

Kat suddenly stopped and stood up straight, as she glared at Kaldur. Sure, sometimes she and Kaldur would have small arguments sometimes, but this time—something inside of her _snapped._

"Who told you that?" She sneered, grabbing Kaldur by the collar; her cat eyes getting deadlier by the minute.

"No one had to _tell_ me, Katrina," Kaldur hissed back, yanking her claws off his collar. "I saw the way you were acting around Zatanna yesterday. It's not every day I see a person like _you_ acting so nice around someone they've just met."

Kat leaned close to Kaldur, almost killing him with her stare.

"If you tell _anyone_ about this, I'll tell everyone how much of a coward you are for leaving Atlantis all because your dream girl broke your heart, and left you for your best friend," Kat threatened in the quietest voice she could utter. "Is that clear, Fish-Brain?"

Kaldur looked at her cold stare, and noticed that he hadn't told _anyone_ about that. Not even Roy.

"Fine," he gave in. Kat just had too much of a big mouth to be certain with. "But just letting you know, this makes you even more of a coward for hiding something that could easily save you a lot of pain."

And at that, Kaldur got up from his seat and left the Cave.

"What an asshole," Kat said to herself.

A few minutes later, the rest of the Team (excluding Kaldur, Brittany and Tash) entered the Cave's rec room.

"Hey, Kat, what's up with Kaldur? He didn't look too happy when he left," Conner asked, sitting on the couch with M'gann.

"Pfft, I don't know," Kat lied. "He probably just has poo-brain from drinking all that pee."

"Say what?" Robin asked, slightly disgusted.

"Apple juice," Kat corrected.

"Oh."

The Team sat down in the living room and started to watch the ever so legendary film: Fast &amp; Furious (they needed something to pass the time since they had no missions). Wally and Kat brought in the popcorn and started filling their guts, getting ready for the action.

"Hey, where's Brittany?" Artemis asked, stealing some popcorn off Wally, assuming that was a safer option than stealing from Kat.

Before anyone could answer, Brittany herself came running into the living room looking very pleased.

"Hey, guys. Guess what, guess what, guess what, guess what—"

"What?" The others said all at once.

"I'm going to do the Summer Dance Intensive program at Juilliard next year!" Brittany squealed, as the others stared at her blankly except for Kat and Robin who obviously knew what she was talking about.

"What's that? And what's Juilliard?" M'gann asked.

Brittany sighed, but explained it anyway.

"Juilliard is one of _the_ most prestigious performing arts schools across the country, and they have a _really_ great dance program," Brittany explained.

"Okay… but what's the Summer Dance Intensive program?" Artemis asked. "It sounds like it's owned by your family."

"Oh, don't worry. It's not. The Juilliard Summer Dance Intensive is a three-week program that works in classical ballet and modern dance for advanced students who are dedicated, disciplined, and dance with a generosity of spirit. The program is limited to dancers who are currently in high school or secondary school and to those who will _not _graduate before the program begins," Brittany said in a rush, as if she'd swallowed a paragraph from the website.

"Oh, yeah… I forgot you were into all that dancing and prancing-around crap. It suits you," Joe stated.

"Thanks…?" Brittany noted, before continuing. "So, by the time I'm fifteen next year, I'll be spending my summer at Juilliard."

Brittany went and sat next to Robin, as he put an arm around her and lifted her legs onto his lap.

"Man, how did you convince Dad to let you go?" Kat asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Um… we kinda had like, this really deep conversation about the future… and then he asked me what I wanted to do after I left school. It really made me think," Brittany answered, whilst throwing popcorn at Robin's face.

Robin threw them right back at her. "When are you gonna make any time for me, then?"

"There's obviously going to be free evenings and weekends, but you're gonna have to come to New York when I'm free," Brittany answered.

"Good."

"Guys, shut up. It's getting to the part where Vin Diesel's in the movie!" Kat scolded.

And to think, this was how the Team spent their spare time.

* * *

**Thank you for reading this chapter (I know, things are bit weird in this one, but when is it never?)! **

**Until next time… :D**

**Happy Reading! ;)**

**P.S. Let me know if you'd like me to write a scene where Roy and Tash are with Captain America... now that would make for some good ol' healthy drama. Happy Australia Day to my fellow Australians out there by the way! ^_^**


	27. This Isn't Right

**Hey, guys! I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS LATE-ASS UPDATE. School got the best of me **_**again**_** (yes, I know, that's the only excuse I come up with these days but at least it's true). I promise—PROMISE—that I will update as often as I can (which, honestly, is a lot longer than I'd like it to be). On my next upcoming school holidays/break, I will be able to update as many frickin' times as I'd like, because I have nothing better to do in my spare time. Which I rarely get anymore. :s**

**So, I hope this chapter will prove to be a good one after all the time you've had to mull things over about Kat and Aqualad and Brittany and Robin and blah. Stay fierce.**

**Happy Reading, guys! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 26: This Isn't Right**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
OCTOBER 16, 16:01 EDT**

"_Tornado, did you—"_

"Yes, Zatara. We saw," Red Tornado answered Zatara, who was shown on the computer's holo-screen. The rest of the Team were standing alongside the android, who have just watched the footage of the big guns of the Justice League getting smouldered by extra-terrestrial attacks.

"Celestial defences have failed," Tornado continued. "Initiate all terrestrial measures."

"_Affirmative. See you in the field,"_ Zatara affirmed.

The holo-screen closed itself as Tornado turned to the Team.

"I must join the League. We will protect the planet at all costs," he explained. "But should we fail, the responsibility falls to you."

Aqualad looked to the rest of the Team. "We stand ready."

With Red Tornado calling for duty, the Team made themselves useful in the Cave and watched the live news reports.

"_This is Iris West-Allen, reporting live,"_ the red-headed news reporter stated in the raucous that was Central City. _"The extra-terrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City."_

In the background, nearby citizens screamed in terror as the unknown aliens flew about the streets, blowing up the nearest thing there was to a human being. But quickly, in a whoosh of red, the Flash ran up and caught Iris in time before getting disintegrated by a nearby alien ship.

In the distance, Zatara cast a spell on the camera man.

"_Tropsnart siht namaremac ot ytefas!" _

"_You should both be safe here. At least for now,"_ Zatara assured, having transported the camera man and Iris to another place in Central City.

"_Thank you, Flash and Zatara," _Iris thanked the two Leaguers. Flash put a hand on her shoulder before running off again, whilst Zatara levitated himself on a mystical disk.

Iris turned to her camera man. _"Denny, you okay?" _Denny put his hand out and signalled thumbs up. _"As you can see, the Justice League is attempting to hold the line." _Iris gestured towards the nearest building which was where Flash and Zatara went to go, but the whole building got blown up by more alien ships.

"_No…"_ Iris said weakly, looking out for the Flash.

The news broadcast suddenly changed into another studio with Cat Grant.

"_Iris, Iris, get out of there!" _Cat shrieked to the other TV screen of Iris, before it got cut off.

Cat slowly got a hold of herself, shifting her papers.

"_I'm sorry; we're experiencing technical difficulties from our Central City feed. We take you now to a devastated Taipei, where another League contingent is having a bit more luck."_

The screen showed Hawkman and Hawkwoman getting disintegrated, whilst Green Arrow and Black Canary handled other alien ships with their powers and weapons… before getting destroyed as well.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost Black Canary, Green Arrow and the Hawks," _Cat reported. _"Other heroes reported dead or missing include Batman, Icon, Atom and Aquaman. Let's take a look at New York City. Betty, how is it in the Big Apple?"_

The screen turned to the news reporter, Betty Brant, whom was standing outside the building of the Daily Bugle. Iron Man and Cyclops were busy shooting lasers at the aliens in the background.

"_Everything's going very badly here in Manhattan, Cat" _Betty said, being very cautious of where she was standing. _"The Fantastic Four, the X-Men and a few more helping hands have been working on protecting New York from the deadly alien newcomers. But, as we've been expecting, we have also lost quite a few of our superheroic comrades already. Heroes starting from Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, the Human Torch, Storm and—as much as we'd hate to admit it—our country's most beloved patriot, Captain America."_

Brittany tensed at the sound of her father's name being called out in the list of the fallen.

Cat Grant lowered her head in dismay as the mention of Captain America gone missing was called for.

"_S.H.I.E.L.D and other government agencies have also been helping fend off the extra-terrestrials, but there has been no such luck yet,"_ Betty Brant continued, but before she could say anymore on the matter, the connection between the camera and the news station got cut off, leaving just Cat Brant in a studio.

An abrupt message from Red Tornado in Smallville sprung up in the Cave's comm.

"_Tornado to Cave. I fear I am all that remains of the League."_

"RT?" Robin called over his comm. He and the Team watched as Red Tornado got disintegrated with the rest of the Leaguers that were in Smallville.

"We are Earth's heroes now," Aqualad announced to the Team.

"So, what are we waiting for? A theme song?" Superboy asked impatiently, looking at Aqualad in concern.

Kat scoffed. "Calm down, Soup Boy. This invasion's only _just_ begun—"

"We're waiting for a strategy," Kaldur cut her off. "Earth's weapons are ineffective and it has been made tragically clear a direct attack will not succeed."

Robin lit up his gauntlet's holo-screen. "Checking satellite imagery."

A large holo-map of the Earth came up in the middle of the center, sporting red hive-like areas highlighted over certain parts of Earth's continents.

"Here's where the aliens are now," Rob continued.

"That one get lost?" Superboy asked, pointing to a red dot on the map which seemed to be just on the outskirts of Metropolis.

"That's Superman's Fortress of Solitude," Brittany answered for him.

"Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?" Conner asked, astounded.

"Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention, at least enough to send a scout ship to investigate," Robin explained.

"Must be _some_ fortress," Conner murmured, slowly walking away until Miss M stopped him.

"Conner," M'gann started.

"No, it's okay," Conner tried to hide the fact that something was definitely _not_ okay. "I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know, uh—you know, now."

"We will target this lone ship," Kaldur decided.

"Yeah. Break it down. Build more. Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo—ow!" Wally emphasized, getting hit by Artemis in the process.

"Martian and Kryptonian in the house," Artemis whispered coarsely.

Both M'gann and Conner stared at Wally, expecting another racial slur.

"Uh, heh, not that _all_ aliens are automatically ugly," Wally corrected himself.

"Let's just go," Kat complained. "Joe! Move it!" She attempted to kick her brother's butt, but vastly missed and ended tripping over her own foot.

"Ha! Shame," Joe dissed, not even making an attempt to help his sister off the floor.

* * *

As the Team got towards the front of Superman's Fortress of Solitude, Artemis, Cat Girl and Spider-Girl disengaged from the Bio Ship and snuck up behind the icebergs that were just behind one of the aliens' scout ships.

Miss Martian was in camouflage mode and flew over to the alien ship, telekinetically breaking off one of its key features.

_[Communication disabled.] _ M'gann confirmed. _[Propulsion disabled.]_

Artemis slowly got up from behind one of the ice bergs and swiftly shot a foam arrow at the alien ship's main entrance, causing its shooter to zap straight at the icebergs harboring Artemis, Kat and Brittany.

_[And ETs are sealed inside.] _Artemis affirmed.

Brittany got up and shot her webbing at the bottom of the alien ship, so it wouldn't get the chance to fly off and get back up.

_[Target is stuck to the ground. It isn't going anywhere now.] _Brittany informed.

Aqualad then quickly jumped out from under the ice, where he was positioned underwater, and almost got his head fried, if it weren't for the heroics of Wolf getting in the way and biting the ship's shooter.

Superboy, Wolf, Robin, Havok and Kid Flash emerged from the camouflaged Bio Ship (the whole team was wearing their winter attire) and jumped onto the alien ship.

Robin brought up his holo-screen. _[Identify weapon's structural stress points and links to the ship.] _Conner was holding up the ship's shooter as Robin gave instructions. _[Here, here and here.] _Robin pointed to three main focal points on his holo-screen. M'gann telekinetically cut apart the three sections of the massive shooter.

Superboy grunted as he heaved with all his might to detach the alien shooter from its ship, but whilst he was trying to accomplish that, two electrical devices started whining, getting ready to zap Supes' leg off, when Wolf took the plunge and got disintegrated instead.

As Conner commando rolled onto the ground and turned around to see what happened, the rest of the Team were in utter shock at what happened to their animal comrade.

_[Wolf.] _M'gann thought weakly.

Robin went back to researching on his holo-screen.

_[There was no indication of feedback. I'm sorry.] _He confessed.

_[Man, even though I may despise the canine race, Wolf started to really grow on me a little. Just a little.] _Kat thought, her mouth pursed into a thin line.

Conner looked a little dazed, but he straightened back up and brought his focus to the task at hand. _[Can't do anything for him now. Let's go.]_

Supes went up to the alien ship's shooter again, this time pulling with all his might and landing on top of the camouflaged Bio Ship along with Miss M and Havok.

M'gann put her hands on top of the Bio Ship, connecting it with the alien cannon shooter Conner disabled.

_[Rerouting systems to integrate weapon into ship's bio-matrix.] _Miss M informed.

_[The fuck is that supposed to mean?] _Kat interrupted, clearly bored with herself even if she was digging her newest stilettos into the white snow.

_[It means I'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes.] _M'gann answered.

_[We may not have a few minutes.] _Joe urged, spotting two more alien ships approaching their way.

Joe made his best effort to get a good aim and shoot his laser at the one on the right, disintegrating it.

_[Joe! Remember what Coulson said about blowing things up like that?] _Brittany scolded.

_[No.] _Joe answered.

Britt mentally scoffed. _[You are USELESS.]_

The ship that was on the left was still approaching the Team.

_[Miss Martian, open fire!] _Aqualad commanded.

_[Can't. Weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon. And that's not fully integrated either!] _

_[Got you covered!] _Artemis drew two explosive arrows with her bow, maintaining her stance towards the approaching ship. _[Get inside! I'm almost there.]_

Artemis started running towards the Bio Ship whilst shooting her arrows, but as the alien ship crash-landed, its laser cannon was getting ready to shoot at Artemis.

_[Artemis. Behind you!] _Spider-Girl warned her fellow archer, her eyes wide underneath her mask.

Artemis quickly turned around to shoot at the ship, but was too late and ended up getting disintegrated by the ship's cannon.

"Artemis!" Miss M screamed in horror, a look of absolute anguish was written all over her face.

"Artemis!" KF shouted, not believing what he just saw.

"Get inside. All of you!" Aqualad ordered, taking out his Water-Bearers and destroyed the alien ship with a frosted ripple effect.

After a few moments, Kid Flash was the first to open his mouth.

"They're _dead. _Every single alien," KF threatened, not even caring that Miss M and Superboy were close by. "If it's the last thing I do!"

* * *

In the Bio Ship, the Team were dazed in mourning over Artemis' death. M'gann was controlling the ship, sobbing until her eyes hurt from all the tears. Brittany was sitting at the front with Robin, the two of them holding hands for reassurance. Kat and KF sat near each other, Wally helping Kat sharpen her metal claws. Havok, Superboy and Kaldur were the only ones that weren't letting their emotions get the best of them.

"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad instructed. "Now we have a job to do. Defend the Earth and ensure Artemis' sacrifice was not in vain."

"Back to the Cave?" Miss M asked.

"The Hall of Justice," Kaldur answered, standing up and looking off into the distance. "The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

As the Team approached the Capitol in Washington D.C. an army of American soldiers were firing at three incoming alien ships. Before the soldiers could get destroyed by the laser cannons, Superboy jumped out from the Bio Ship and smashed one of the ships. The Bio Ship shot beams at the other two, causing the last incoming to crash land and skid to a halt in front of the army.

Conner and the Team landed in front of the soldiers (wearing their usual heroic attire this time), facing the men as they cheered their arrival.

"See? It _is_ Superman," a soldier that went by the name (according to Brittany's knowledge) Jason Bard went up to his fellow soldier, David Reid. "I told you he wouldn't leave us out here alone."

"I don't know," Reid doubted, looking at the young hero. "He looks kind of young. Where's the cape?"

"I'm not Superman," Conner answered frustratingly.

Another man, much older than the rest of the soldiers standing before the Team, stood forward. "I don't know who you are, son. And right now, I don't care."

_[Who's this old geezer?] _Kat snarked.

_[General Eiling. He's—was a good friend of Dad's.] _Brittany answered.

"You wear the S, and you get the job done," Eiling continued to Superboy.

"I'm not Superman," Conner lowered his head.

"Tell that to the enemy," the general said.

Aqualad walked up to the general, as Eiling saluted his respect.

"General Wade Eiling, U.S. Air Force."

"Aqualad, Justice League," Kaldur responded. "We'll help you savage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible. Then we start taking back what is ours."

"Brilliant. But mind you, I'm not sure what Captain America would do in a situation like this," Bard interrupted.

"He would do what he could for the sake of civilians' lives, no matter what," Brittany answered for him.

"How would you know what old Captain America would do, young ma'am?" Eiling asked.

_[Pfft. He obviously doesn't know that we're his kids.] _Joe thought.

_['Old Grandpa U.S. Air Force' is better off not knowing.] _Kat mentally sneered.

"Um… I've met him before. He—he's uh… very positive about things," Brittany said hurriedly.

"Right, then," Eiling looked at her suspiciously. "Well, no one knows whether his kids are safe. Probably hiding somewhere in the broken White House."

_[Uh—RUDE.] _Kat thought, as all of the soldiers filed into their defence positions.

The Team made their way into the broken Hall of Justice. They walked inside to the giant statues, which used to be golden, standing broken with surrounding rubble.

"They're really gone," Robin muttered, Brittany putting a hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, a soft glow of green light emerged through the giant gap that used to be the entrance to the Hall: it was the flying figure of Green Lantern Girl.

"Tash!" Brittany started to run up to her sister, but Robin quickly pulled her back.

_[Britt, calm down! Tash may look like Tash, but you never know if she's indeed the real her.] _Robin warned.

Brittany stopped and took her precautions.

"Wait. Are you really… Tash? How do I know you're not some alien doppelganger?" Brittany asked hesitantly.

"That's because only _one_ person can use my Power Ring. And that person is Natasha Summer, Green Lantern Girl of Earth, 2814. Eldest daughter of Captain Steven Rogers and I happen to be the League's most recommended runner up to be a future Justice League member. And, I also happen to know all of the Team's guilty pleasures." Tash stood there looking well proud of herself, as the rest of the Team stood in silence.

"Oh, really, _Tubbers?_ What are those guilty pleasures, then?" Kat drawled.

"Well, I know that _you_, Kat, spend most of your spare time watching drag queen races on YouTube, Joe collects packets of Junior Mints and stashes them in his room in case there ever was to be a zombie apocalypse, Brittany watches constant reruns of _Lilo &amp; Stitch_ whilst imitating Stitch's voice, M'gann is secretly in love with making Oreo s'mores, Wally has his usual Playboy magazines that he reads from time to time, Conner has a little thing goin' on with Sphere and Wolf, Aqualad has a secret fetish for re-enacting scenes from Finding Nemo with his little fishy friends and Robin likes to make himself smell like Brittany's cotton candy Lip Smackers. If that doesn't prove I'm Tash, then I don't know what will. Plus, I'm dating Red Arrow."

Everyone looked embarrassed to know how much Tash paid attention to their lives.

Nobody said anything to argue, so Tash just continued. "So… um, where's Artemis?" she asked, giving in to Brittany's tight hug.

"She's gone," Wally said firmly, yet was loud enough to echo throughout the whole room.

"Oh," Tash answered weakly, as she let go of Brittany and walked over to the twins.

Miss M silently flew over to the gigantic broken head of Martian Manhunter, and started sobbing. All of a sudden, M'gann flew away from the broken statue and telekinetically lifted it up to reveal an indeed real-life version of Martian Manhunter. He clutched his temple as M'gann called out in surprise.

"Uncle J'onn!"

M'gann started to fly towards her uncle, when Aqualad stopped her, taking the same safety precautions as Robin.

_[M'gann, check his mind. Make sure he is whom he appears to be.]_

M'gann didn't hesitate once as she analyzed her uncle's mind.

_[It's him. He's real. And he's alive.]_

"But we saw you get disintegrated," Superboy said. "You _and_ Superman—and everyone."

"Yes, I remember," Manhunter said, clutching his head as his niece helped him up. "But I cannot remember how I survived… or how I arrived here."

"Maybe you were density-shifting and the beam passed right through you," M'gann said quickly.

"Scrambling your brains while on the way," Robin insisted.

"My mind is clouded," Manhunter said, clutching head again. "I feel certain I had something important to tell you."

_[_Hello,_ Wally. Come on.] _KF bumped his head in a '_Hello,_ Megan' kind of way.

Both Wally and Robin went outside to discover what he was all excited about; soldiers surrounding them in case of a surprise attack.

The two boys were looking at the Bio Ship. _[I knew it! Look. It's giving off Zeta-Beams. The same stuff that powers our Zeta–Tubes. This thing doesn't disintegrate. It teleports. Artemis is alive!] _KF thought.

Robin had his holo-screen on and was looking at the blue-prints of the alien cannon shooter the Bio Ship absorbed.

_[Maybe. But—] _Robin started.

_[No maybes. They're all alive.] _Wally pressed on.

The rest of the Team along with Martian Manhunter were still in the ruins of the Hall of Justice.

"Maybe that's what you wanted to tell us," M'gann said enthusiastically.

Suddenly, a fleet of alien ships started flying towards the Hall of Justice. The Team started to get into action before anything else was to get disintegrated.

_[We're on our way.] _Aqualad informed Robin and KF.

But Robin didn't think that idea would be very productive. _[Negative. We can't win this. Miss Martian, camo the Bio Ship and—]_

Before Robin said anything else, the aliens' cannons all shot at the Bio Ship at once, causing Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian to collapse in agony.

"M'gann!" Conner shouted.

He and Aqualad went over to tend to the Martians. Tears were streaming down Miss Martian's face.

"That didn't feel like—" But she didn't get to finish.

_[We're falling back.] _Robin thought as he, Kid Flash and the rest of the patrolling soldiers came running into the Hall.

"We're trapped," General Eiling said.

A few moments after he spoke, the doors that led into the Hall's library opened up.

"Maybe not," Aqualad said.

Joe and Brittany were the first to enter the library, leading in the soldiers to hold their positions. Aqualad and the rest of the Team filed in; Miss M holding up her uncle for support.

"We can all Zeta to the Cave," Aqualad insisted. He turned to Manhunter. "If you can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes."

"I can only authorize one at a time," J'onn said.

"Send the soldiers first," Aqualad said.

"Belay that," Eiling countered. "You ten are assets we cannot afford to lose."

After a few brief moments, Kaldur nodded his approval. The Hall's computer camera came out from the ceiling and started scanning the older Martian.

"Override; Martian Manhunter— 07."

"_Recognized. Access granted."_ The doors to the Hall's Zeta-Tube opened up, ready for transportation.

The first one to be scanned was M'gann.

"_Miss Martian—B05."_

And as she left into the Zeta-Tube, the list went on.

"_Robin—B01. Kid Flash—B03."_

Before Superboy and the rest could get scanned, an explosion came from the doors to the library: the aliens had gotten in.

Superboy and Tash got around to saving a couple of soldiers, whilst Aqualad urged Kat, Joe and Brittany to go.

"_Cat Girl—B08. Havok 2.0—B09."_

The two twins had made it through, which only left a few remaining soldiers along with Aqualad, GLG, Superboy and Spider-Girl.

Conner and Tash were holding up two soldiers.

"He goes next," Tash said, holding on to David Reid, whilst Conner held on to Jason Bard. "And so should he."

"Fine. Then you," Conner said.

"_Private Jason Bard, U.S.M.C. Private David Reid, U.S.M.C."_

"Can you make it?" Superboy asked Jason.

"Sure, Superman," he answered, limping up to the Zeta-Tube.

"I'm not—"

The computer quickly recognized Conner too. _"Superboy—B04."_

As Tash walked up to the Zeta-Tube, she noticed one person other than Aqualad who hadn't gone through yet.

"Britt—Spider-Girl!" Tash called out to her sister, whom was still helping out other various soldiers.

"You go on without me. I'll make it. I've just gotta—" But before Brittany could say another word along with the other remaining soldiers she tried to help… she got disintegrated by one of the alien cannons.

"NO!" Tash screamed, but she got pushed into the Zeta-Tube by Aqualad, whom was holding on to Martian Manhunter.

"_Green Lantern Girl—B07."_

"They need you more than me. Go!" Aqualad urged on, throwing Manhunter into the Zeta beam.

With Aqualad willing to make his sacrifice, he got disintegrated as well.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
OCTOBER 16, 21:56 EDT**

"Our next mission is clear," Robin had a grim look on his face as he explained what the Team had to do next. If the death of Artemis hadn't hit him hard enough, then the death of Brittany certainly did. "If we believe the aliens have been teleporting victims—"

"We do," Kid Flash interrupted.

"—then the only reasonable detention facility is here," Robin opened up a holo-screen map, showing a picture of the globe and a picture of the aliens' mothership.

"Their mothership," Robin continued. "Atop what used to be Smallville."

The Team turned to Martian Manhunter for an answer.

"Ring any bells?" Tash asked him.

"No. I'm sorry," J'onn stood up, seeming to have gotten better from his forgetful state.

"Superboy and Havok, you'll create a distraction," Robin stated.

"Wha—no!" Kat disagreed. "You are _not_ using my brother as bait for your stupid little tactics. This is shit, Robin!"

"He's offering you as a sacrifice," Miss M rounded up on Conner. "Aqualad would never do that."

"You're right," Robin said in a more mellow tone. "Aqualad would sacrifice himself, a mistake that just cost us our leader… and Brittany." He changed back to his tense tone. "Superboy and Havok are the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

"Worst case, their teleported inside, and we set them free along with Artemis- and, uh—Aqualad and Brittany and everyone," KF said.

_[It's okay, M'gann. It's what Superman would do.] _Conner thought to M'gann.

Kat tensed up when she saw how nonchalant Joe looked about the whole thing. She folded her arms and spoke after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"You do realize you're gonna die from this, right?" she asked.

"Yep," he answered.

"And you're okay with making yourself a sacrifice like that?"

"Kat, I'm fine," he stared at her coldly. Everyone else was waiting for the moment when Brittany usually pointed out that it wasn't fine, but that moment never came.

Joe quickly grabbed Kat by the arm and pulled her away from the rest of the Team.

"Remember that story that Dad told us about, when he just got into the army? Before he became Captain America? The thing he did that got the attention of Colonel Chester Phillips and Dr. Erskine?" Joe asked his sister, who still did not look impressed.

"Yes," she said flatly.

"Well, think about it. Phillips was still unimpressed that Dad couldn't show any soldier potential because of his skinny figure. But when that fake grenade got thrown on to the ground, guess who was the only one to jump on top of it whilst yelling out to everyone to save themselves?"

Kat scoffed before answering. "Dad?" she answered in a bored voice.

"Exactly. Which is why I'm willing to make the sacrifice, because that's what Dad would do."

Kat just stood there, still looking unimpressed with her twin's decision. After about five minutes, she heaved a deep sigh and gave in to her brother's hopeful look.

"Fine. You can go die in your own heroic way. Just don't come crying to me in the afterlife, when you look like a German Nazi just nuked you," Kat walked off towards Tash, Joe hearing her tall platform heels click-clack on the metallic floor.

"C'mon, guys. We've got a mission to accomplish," Tash called to the two.

"First, we've gotta make sure everyone on Earth knows that there's still people out there who can save them," Robin said, switching on all satellite connections to the Cave, and to the rest of the world. The Team stood in front of the Cave computer holo-screen, which was recording them, broadcasting to anyone with technology starting from smartphones to television screens.

Miss Martian spoke first. "Though all seems lost… the only thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope."

"Hope survives, because the battle is not over," Superboy said. "Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight."

"It doesn't matter how many fall… for new heroes will rise to carry on… bringing all their resources, their skills, their talents to bear to defeat the enemy," Kid Flash said.

"The people of Earth will survive this," Robin said, wearing two criss-crossed utility belts equipped with explosives. "We will rebuild, and we will thrive. Never doubt and never forget. The Earth will never surrender!"

Hoping to have gotten the message around to the whole world, the Team disconnected the many satellite signals and continued with their plan.

Surprisingly, some more young heroes showed up to Mount Justice including Red Arrow and Zatanna.

"Roy!" Tash ran over to her boyfriend, whom had just finished loading up arrows in his quiver.

"I'm right here," Roy assured her, as they embraced each other.

"Great," Kat muttered sarcastically under her breath, as she looked at her sister and her 'asshole boyfriend'. "Just _great_."

Suddenly, a mystical voice came up behind her, casting a spell.

"_Neprahs S'tak swalc."_

It was the voice of Zatanna. Kat whipped around just in time to see her new friend pulling on a pair of white gloves.

"Hey!" Kat gave Zatanna a quick hug before questioning why she was there. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help," Zatanna said. "Not with the mothership, though. Now _that's_ a challenge. Even with the help of magic."

"That's great! Uh—speaking of magic, what spell did you just cast on me?" Kat asked.

"Look," Zatanna pointed towards Kat's hands. As Kat inspected her hands, she saw that her claws were looking exceptionally stunning for a night spent scratching at alien ships.

"They're really sharp," Kat said in awe.

"'_Sharpen Kat's claws.'_ That's what I said."

"Righteous!"

Before the both of them could say anything else, Robin called it in.

"Team, we're leaving in five!" Robin commanded, as he quickly went down the Cave's hallway, leading to the recreational part of Mount Justice.

"Wait, where's bird-brain going—" Kat started.

"Just let him be," Wally piped up, speeding right to Kat. "We all know she was your sister, but Brittany was Robin's girlfriend, too. Just let him mope over her."

"And what about your _very_ possible theory that everyone who got disintegrated is still alive?" Kat folded her arms, squinting at the speedster. She was getting sick of hearing so many illogical solutions which always achieved nothing.

"Well… souvenir?" Wally shrugged, as he sped off towards Joe, whose face had gone exceptionally pale.

* * *

In Smallville, Robin and M'gann were looking over at the aliens' mothership. Robin had a pair of binoculars.

"Stay close to J'onn. He's still…" Robin made an 'ish' motion with his hand.

M'gann nodded grimly.

"First team, deploy," Robin called to the others.

Both Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter flew into the sky, going into camouflage mode. They both held hands so Manhunter could density shift M'gann through the walls of the mothership, bypassing the security cannons.

_[Ready and in position.] _M'gann affirmed. She began to think about Superboy. _[Be careful, Conner. I love you.]_

Conner grew a small smile, turning to Robin for the nod for him and Havok to go. Robin nodded his approval, but deep down… he wanted nothing more than to turn back time to make sure that Brittany got the Zeta-Tube right after he did. But he knew that would never happen. Not in a lifetime, so he focused back on what the plan was.

Both Conner and Joe made their way atop the alien mothership and began tearing things down (for Joe, _shooting_ things down).

_[Careful. Don't disconnect the power source.] _Robin warned.

"Alright, you glorified trespassers! You wanna see how a real alien fights?" Superboy roared. He held up one of the ship's cannons and fired at another one whilst Joe shot the other, which got destroyed in seconds. As soon as the two boys atop shot at the cannons, the mothership deployed about two dozen scout ships to attack.

_[Now or never!] _Joe called to the four remaining heroes.

Tash used her Power Ring to fly over to the ship carrying Kat with her, whilst Kid Flash sped up to the ship carrying Robin on his back. The four of them hastily made it in, dodging the incoming scout ships.

_[Way is clear. Go!] _Robin ordered, the three others running behind him.

They made it to their checkpoint, meeting the two camouflaged Martians.

As Conner and Joe continued shooting, the numbers just piled up too much—and the both of them ended up getting disintegrated.

Simultaneously, Miss Martian collapsed whilst running with Manhunter, as she clutched her head.

_[No. He—they're gone.] _She moped. She vastly dropped to her knees, as the rest of the remaining team stopped to know what was going on.

_[So… Joe's gone too?] _Kat asked in disbelief. _[This fucking sucks camel dick!]_

_[Kat! Not now.] _Tash scolded, even though she felt just as distraught as Kat did.

KF quickly sped down to M'gann, trying to console her (and not in the usual douchey kind of way).

_[It's alright. We'll find him with Artemis. I know it.] _KF assured his fellow Martian.

Manhunter interrupted. _[No. My mind is clear now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose.]_

KF quickly grabbed the older Martian by his cape collar, infuriated. _[No. You're wrong! The Zeta radiation proves she's alive. She's—]_

Before Wally could argue any further, Robin grabbed him by his collar. _[Stop it, KF! I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside. They're not here. Artemis is gone. And so is Brittany.]_

Wally widened his eyes at the news he was just given, Tash stepped forward. _[But our mission still holds purpose. To destroy this mothership.]_

Kat went and helped Miss M up from the floor, whom was still a little disgruntled.

The six remaining members went on through the mothership and entered through the doors that led to the mothership's core center. It was a giant yellow sun-like ball, encaged by different shaped plates of metal, all crating an orb-like power core.

_[This is the power core.] _Robin stated, as the six heroes hid behind one of the metal platforms. _[Blow this and the whole mothership explodes.]_

_[Boy, that sounded wrong.] _Kat thought to herself, yet everyone else heard it.

_[Let's just get on with it, shall we?] _Tash asked, flying up to the core first before everyone else followed suit.

_[Robin! Pass the explosives!] _Tash called, having already been dragged by a gravitonic force by the core.

Kat, Robin and KF got pulled by the force as well; Robin grappling them back to the platform so that they didn't fully make contact with the ship's core.

The ship's security robots had noticed the heroes taking advantage of their ship, but luckily the two Martians kicked them out of the way. M'gann telekinetically lowered the three heroes down to where Tash was standing. She nodded to Robin as KF and Kat watched in disbelief.

_[You both knew.] _Kat thought, watching as Robin held Tash a strap of explosives.

_[You knew from the beginning why we were really here.] _KF finished for her.

Robin tapped on his holo-screen, which had a timer on it. _[Four minutes. Let's go.]_

The explosives started beeping, flashing red lights. Before the heroes could make it out of the mothership, the entrance doors of the ship closed.

_[Perfect.] _Wally thought; stopping abruptly as Robin, Tash, Kat and the Martians caught up to him.

Suddenly, more security robots rounded up on the six, buzzing with deadly electricity; laser cannons at the ready. The six split up into twos; Tash going with Kat, the Martians going together and Robin going with KF. As they all parted ways, the robots shot straight for the girls—and unfortunately the two sisters weren't fast enough, and they both got disintegrated by the aliens' laser cannons.

_[No! Can everyone stop dying, please?] _KF whined, as he and Robin ducked behind one of the shaded columns.

_[Sixteen seconds and counting.] _Robin warned. _[Manhunter, take Miss Martian and go.]_

_[No! We won't leave you.] _Miss Martian retorted.

_[That's an order. We'll follow you as soon as we blow those doors.] _Robin called.

The two Martians both density-shifted through the floor to escape. The timer on Robin's holo-screen had eight seconds left, as he and KF nodded to each other.

It all happened so fast.

Robin and Kid Flash ran up to the doors; Robin taking out several explosive batarangs, but just as he threw them at the doors—the whole mothership imploded. It was as if a minor nuclear bomb had hit Smallville; destroying everything in its path. There was no turning back from that.

Fire poured out from the destroyed mothership as Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian shifted back to the ground outside. They both watched as the fire continued to erupt from the broken down ship.

_[Don't… don't tell me the mission was a success.] _Miss M sobbed. _[The price was too high.]_

But as she said those words, a large dark shadow loomed from the sky:

It was another alien mothership.

M'gann watched in horror as the ship landed itself atop of the previous damage that had done nothing. M'gann stepped away from her uncle as she still watched, completely distraught.

_[No, no, no.] _She whimpered. _[We have to get out of here now.]_

But surprisingly, her uncle denied her urge to escape.

_[No. We have to end this now.] _

Before anything else happened, M'gann's own uncle drove his fist into her chest, morphing into a sharp weapon, killing her.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
OCTOBER 16, 16:21 EDT**

M'gann woke up; her eyes vastly opened as she gasped for air.

She took in her current surroundings. She saw that she was in the Cave's main center, lying on a bench; the rest of the Team having to have woken up like her as well.

"You're all alive," M'gann said, being filled with relief.

She looked over across the center to see Batman standing next to a nauseous-looking Martian Manhunter and a sweaty Robin.

"What happened in there?" Batman asked Manhunter, whom was yet again clutching his temple in pain.

"The exercise, it all went wrong," Manhunter answered.

"Exercise?" Robin asked, wiping sweat off his brow. He took a panoramic shot of the room and saw Brittany sitting up on her bench, looking very much alive.

"Try to remember," Batman said. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked all ten of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn't know was that it was a train-for-failure exercise. No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still you were aware nothing was real… including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved," Manhunter said. "Even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes. But all that changed when Artemis died. Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real… her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise. And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too."

As soon as J'onn said that, all heads turned towards M'gann.

"Uh, um… I'm so sorry," M'gann started apologizing to everyone.

"This isn't her fault," Conner retorted. "Why didn't you stop the exercise?" He fired at J'onn and Batman.

"We tried. But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario," Manhunter continued. "Even Artemis, who should have awoken upon her death… was so convinced that she had passed, she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to wrest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly to remember why I was there. The deaths of Spider-Girl, Aqualad, Havok and Superboy helped. But only when the mothership exploded, and Robin, Cat Girl, Kid Flash and Green Lantern Girl were silenced… did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose. To shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent."

Everyone had shocked looks on their faces as they listened to J'onn's story, they didn't even notice how much M'gann was trembling from fear.

"My apologies," Manhunter addressed the Team. "I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous. So damaging."

Everyone turned to M'gann, who had her face buried in her hands, hiding away from the others' stares. Captain Marvel went over to console her, Superboy following suit, when J'onn collapsed into Batman and Red Tornado's clutches.

"As bad as all that?" Batman asked J'onn, helping the Martian stand.

"Perhaps worse," Manhunter answered in a grim tone.

"Yet this is not what troubles you," Red Tornado noticed.

"Make no mistake," J'onn stood upright. "My niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this… for our debacle."

"No one blames her," Batman said. "But clearly we underestimated her abilities."

"You understate it," J'onn corrected him. As M'gann continued crying; the Team watching her, J'onn continued. "In terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind I have ever encountered. Stronger by far than mine."

Whilst everyone were busy thinking about what they had just gone through, using her spider-hearing, Brittany heard the conversation between Martian Manhunter, Batman and Red Tornado. An idea suddenly popped into her head.

She got up from her bench, avoiding eye contact with the others (which was quite impossible anyways since she was wearing her shades) and walked up to the three Leaguers.

"Um… sorry to interrupt, but I just couldn't help overhearing what you were saying about M'gann being the strongest telepath you've ever encountered," Brittany said, fidgeting with the hem of her jeans to make herself not look so obvious.

"And what are your thoughts about it?" Batman quizzed her on the spot.

"Well, if she does need training with someone at the same range of telepathy as her, then I might know someone or two that can help."

"Who's the most likely out of the two that can help Miss Martian?" Batman asked.

"Professor Charles Xavier. The other telepath I could mention is White Queen A.K.A Emma Frost, but she's a bit… 'ish' with the whole 'villain—hero' thing," Brittany said. "Just a suggestion in case M'gann would want some single field training."

Leaving the three Leaguers stunned by her ability to hear things from a far distance, Brittany walked back to the others and sat next to Robin, reassuring him over and over again that she was actually there.

* * *

**End of the chapter! XD**

**Please review, favorite and follow! It really does mean a lot to me that you do, no matter how cliché that sounds!**

**Also, a big thank you to the people who have followed this story over the long period of time that I did not update. Kudos to you! :) **

**Happy Reading, guys! ;)**


	28. Recovery

**Holy shit.**

* * *

**Chapter 27: Recovery**

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
****OCTOBER 23, 17:21 EDT**

A wave of melancholy washed over the Team as they sat in the Cave's living room, mulling over how things went in the simulation with Martian Manhunter. M'gann was stirring a bowl of cake batter with a sad look on her face, with everyone else sitting around thinking about the things that had happened. Tash wasn't there to mope, since she had things to take care of with her Steve and Roy, and Brittany was sitting sideways on one of the green armchairs, avoiding Robin's watchful gaze. She could easily tell he was staring at her the whole time.

Meanwhile, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel and Martian Manhunter were in the Cave's main center, looking at the security camera footage on the computer's holo-screens.

"Recognized; Batman – 02," the computer announced.

Batman walked into the center from the Zeta platform, approaching the three other Leaguers.

"How are they?" He asked.

"I am still shaken by what you and I wrought," Manhunter spoke up. He gestured towards the holo-screens. "One can only imagine how these youths fare."

"I know our virtual reality training simulation went badly," Batman continued. "But I'd hoped the Team would have rallied by now."

"Trauma tends to linger, my friend," Manhunter said.

"Black Canary?" Batman asked the Martian.

"She has her work cut out for her," J'onn answered.

Sitting in the Cave's conference room were Conner and Black Canary. The space wasn't so much a conference room as it had a dojo-like aura about it. The room's walls were made of solid rock, with a waterfall running down the back wall. Both Conner and Canary were sitting opposite each other, as their therapy session started.

"I can only imagine how devastating it was… losing your friends; in essence, your family… convinced all the time it was completely real," Black Canary said, studying Conner's every move as they sat in the room.

Conner clenched his fists as he heard Black Canary's words.

"I'm sure it must have been horrible for you," she continued.

The younger hero still showed no emotion on his face as he looked into space.

"I understand," Canary said. "You're Superboy. You're not supposed to have feelings of sadness or vulnerability."

At that last comment, Conner abruptly stood up; stopping Canary from saying anything more.

"You don't know what I feel," he shot at her, glowing with anger. After that, he turned to leave.

"Conner!" Canary called.

"Just leave me alone!" Conner called back as he exited the room.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****OCTOBER 23, 17:43 EST**

Tash hastily paced back and forth in her bedroom that she had very recently moved into, in her father's Brooklyn apartment. She was fuming with frustration the more she thought about her problem. No matter how long and hard she thought of ways to fix this particular situation, nothing came to mind whenever she thought of the daunting words: Yale application.

Before she could walk any more meters of the room, her father had entered through the front door and went over to Tash's room to check in on her. He had just come back from a meeting with Nick Fury. He walked in—surprised—to see his daughter acting in such a strange way.

"Hey, Tasha," Steve greeted. "How's your resume coming up?"

"I'm failing miserably," Tash paused and then resumed walking back and forth.

"Tash, hold on for a second," Steve pleaded.

"What?" His daughter snapped with full alertness. Of course, no matter how crummy her attitude was towards her father, Steve wouldn't change his attitude towards _her_, even if she were holding him at gunpoint.

"I think you may be overthinking this a little too much," Steve answered. "Just a little." He made a gesture with his hand, emphasizing how little he meant.

"Well, this kind of crap isn't as easy as it looks, Dad!" Tash argued, stopping in her tracks, now facing her father.

"What seems to be the problem, then?" Steve towered over her, him being the taller one, as he folded his arms.

Tash glared at Steve for a few moments until she gave up, and went outside to the living room to sit on the couch. She covered her face with her hands, in the hopes that she might get some ideas from doing just that. Steve slowly sat down beside his daughter, being careful not to provoke her anymore than he already did.

"Tash, talk to me. I can help," Steve offered, giving her a thoughtful look.

Tash took her face out of her hands and looked up.

"I… I have nothing to put on my resume for Yale," Tash sadly admitted.

"But… I thought that would've been the _least_ of your worries."

"It could be. But thing is, I haven't done anything that exceeds Yale's expectations," Tash leaned back on the couch, resting her head as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Well, you have about eight months to get something done before you graduate high school," Steve tried to lighten her up a bit.

"Yeah," Tash said, "eight months before I go into the dark void of nothingness that's called LIFE."

"What do you even plan on doing when you go to Yale?" Her father asked. "What are you even going to study?"

Tash paused for a minute, not really wanting to tell her father what she wanted to end up doing for the rest of her life. She didn't want to tell _anyone_, really. Not even Roy.

"I…" she started, hesitating with all her might. "I sort of wanna get into acting and modelling—I mean, I'm already a part-time model for Yale, but that's not really the same."

Her father stared at her bluntly, as if he hadn't heard her correctly.

"You wanna do… _acting_? _And_ modelling?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you absolutely sure about that?"

"Well, acting isn't very hard—for me, anyway."

"Sweetheart, are you _absolutely_ sure you wanna get yourself into that business? After all you've been through at the start of July?"

"I'm positive," Tash assured him, giving him a hopeful look. "If I'm good at my job, I'll get paid well. All actors and models do. And I want my life to be based on the amount of money I've made."

"Now, Tash; this doesn't sound like you," Steve argued. "What about your internship with Ferris Aircraft? What's gonna happen with that?"

"I've already told Carl Ferris that I quit," Tash said simply. Her father, however, did _not _look very impressed with her decision.

Steve took a moment to let it all sink in before sighing in defeat.

"If that's what you want…" Steve trailed on, still with a shred of suspicion on his mind. "Then you better start doing well at school. Have you joined any extra-curricular activities yet?"

"No…" Tash admitted, tensing up. "Okay, don't get me wrong; I like the people at my school, but not the extra-curricular activities. _Holy crap_, they suck so much."

"Tasha, at least do _one _thing. It can be anything. Just get something on your resume before it's too late," Steve advised; kissing Tash's forehead before he left to go out again.

Natasha looked at her wristwatch to see how much time she had left of her day. She groaned in frustration as she buried her face in her hands again.

* * *

Conner left from his very short therapy session with Black Canary and headed straight for the Cave's hangar, which was where all the Team's vehicles were kept. He went over to his red motorcycle and slowly rode up to face the Cave's exit. He called up to Red Tornado with his comm.

"Red Tornado, hangar door," Conner commanded, holding onto his helmet. Wolf appeared behind his vehicle.

As the hangar door began to open, Sphere quickly rolled in front of Conner, blocking his path.

"Sphere, out of the way!" Conner scolded.

After Conner had spoken, Sphere began trembling as he kept beeping out his communications. Suddenly, Sphere had transformed himself into a _very_ advanced looking motorcycle. In fact, it was more than an advanced motorcycle. It was an advanced motor _vehicle_. Whatever people described it as, it looked pretty awesome.

Both Conner and Wolf were astonished at the amount of power they had not seen Sphere demonstrate. The two of them hesitantly hopped on and rode Sphere out of the Cave's exit. They flew into the sky at high speeds, leaving the Cave's hangar in the dust.

Batman and Red Tornado made their way to the hangar just in time to see Conner, Wolf and Sphere speeding off into the distance. Batman touched up on his comm. "Superboy, return to Cave."

He then heard a radioed duplicate of his voice repeat, _"Superboy, return to Cave."_

Conner had left his comm. back in the hangar. Batman picked it up and sighed in frustration.

Meanwhile, in the Cave's therapy/conference room, Black Canary and Artemis were having their session. Artemis sat in the chair Conner had previously occupied, facing Canary with a very bored look on her face. She sat in a very lazy position as she spoke.

"Look, _me_ dying during the exercise might have started things going south… but I was coma-girl," Artemis snarked. "Missed out on all the fun of forgetting it wasn't real. So, no trauma. No need for the shrink-rap."

"You're too tough to need help?" Canary asked.

"Whatever. Maybe," Artemis lifted her legs up onto the armchair, as if to guard her from more of Canary's questions.

"Or maybe too tough to admit you need help," Canary leaned forward in her seat. "Artemis, it's not a sign of weakness to open up to your friends."

The archer tensed up. "I know that," Artemis said grumpily.

"But you still keep secrets from them," Canary continued.

Artemis jolted up from her seat in an outrage. "You won't tell them. You can't!"

"I won't," Canary said; Artemis lowered herself back in her chair. "But _you_ should. You could start by admitting you're not really Green Arrow's niece."

"Pfft. Right. Can you imagine what _Wally_ would do with that?"

"Interesting," Canary commented after a moment's pause. "So, the person you're most worried about is Wally."

Artemis looked at the older hero and widened her eyes at the assumption. Who knew what Artemis could imagine what Wally would do with that. After Artemis, the next contender for Black Canary was Kaldur. He sat himself opposite Black Canary with his head lowered as he spoke.

"I was the general, but behaved like a soldier and sacrificed myself," he said, as he looked up. "I am not fit for command and must resign as team leader."

"Who do you recommend to take your place?" Canary asked.

Kaldur started listing off the names of options.

"Artemis is too raw and untrusting. Kid Flash, too rash and impulsive. Spider-Girl, she's very logical and is a great soldier when need be, but she hasn't proved herself strong enough to take on the job. Miss Martian remains too eager to please. Superboy carries too much anger. And don't even mention the two twins. Sure, Havok 2.0 can be a strong team player at times, but he can never think for himself. Cat Girl shouldn't even be an option, really—"

"And why is that?" Canary cut him off.

Kaldur held his breath as he thought of the conversation he and Kat had about her outraging sexuality. But nevertheless, Kat had taunted him about telling people her secret. So, like any other rational person would do: he kept his mouth shut and just shook his head.

"So, this makes Robin the logical choice," Canary said for him.

"But he is so young," Kaldur said. And to think, Robin was three months younger than Brittany.

"Kaldur, you're _all_ young," Canary reassured.

"I cannot shift this burden to him. Not yet," Kaldur paused for moment before continuing. "It appears I must withdraw my resignation." And without another word from the brooding leader, next up was Brittany.

The young blond was sitting very nervously in her armchair, as she fidgeted with her sunglasses. Black Canary watched her every move.

"Ahem," Canary cleared her throat, making Brittany stop and quickly regain herself.

"Um…" Brittany started, but Canary wanted to talk first.

"So," Canary started, "what must have it felt like… to get separated from the ones you love most in such a war-like situation?"

"Heh," Brittany started nervously. "Funny you should mention war in front of a daughter of a Super Soldier. But, I'll answer your question anyway.

"Being the third one to 'die' right after Artemis did… I kept telling myself that I never would've thought I'd make it that far into a situation like that. I had that same thought go over in my head as my mind slowly went blank. I don't know why, it was just… one of my first instincts."

"So… you felt _relieved_ that you 'died'?" Canary asked in confusion.

"Wha—no! What I meant to say, was that because I recently found out I'm comparably the weakest person out of the Team, I never thought I'd be alive for that long in the simulation," Brittany attempted to clarify.

"Right," Canary understood, but very vaguely. "Now, please, answer my question this time. What must have it felt like to get separated from the ones you love most in a war-like situation?"

It took Brittany a few seconds to realize that she had completely dodged a question from Black Canary. After a few moments, she gave her an answer.

"Devastating," Brittany answered solemnly, staring at the floor. "_Terrible_. Horrific. Dreadful. Awful, appalling, horrendous, atrocious, abominable, abhorrent, unspeakable, sickening, heinous, frightful, outrageous—"

"Okay, okay!" Canary stopped her from listing anymore of her vocabulary. "So, it obviously didn't feel very pleasant."

A few seconds of silence passed as the older hero decided to take it to a different subject. Brittany silently started to sniffle a few upcoming tears.

"So, tell me... are you happy being in your first relationship with Robin?" Canary asked. She didn't know why she picked that certain question. It was just the first thing that popped into her head.

"Uh… yeah," Brittany assured, raising an eyebrow, "why wouldn't I?"

"It's just… you seem to be more hung up about losing everyone else _except_ for Robin, I've noticed," Canary explained. "Why is that?"

Brittany held her breath until she began to speak again. "I… I don't know. Because he's my boyfriend and not just a teammate anymore, I always have this thing hanging over my head, which is the ever-growing possibility that this relationship won't last."

"What makes you think that?" Canary asked, a look of concern was written all over her face.

"Well—" Brittany stuttered. "—I've noticed recently that... whenever he goes about being Dick Grayson, h-he always hangs out with this girl, Barbara Gordon. And, I completely respect his boundaries of hanging out with other girls, but I'm just scared that Barbara—_Babs_, he calls her—will catch Robin's interest, and that he'll eventually want to leave me for her." She paused again before continuing. "Does that make me a psycho, or what?"

"No, that doesn't make you psychotic," Canary said. "That just means you're like any other rational girlfriend there is, and you do have some of your small suspicions and moments of paranoia. You'll get over it once you two have been together for a bit longer."

"Maybe," Brittany said. As that concluded her session, Kat was already strutting her way into the room.

"Hey, Britt, your boyfie's out there chucking a little tantrum," Kat said in a taunting tone. "Go make him feel better."

Brittany scowled as she walked out of the room. Kat edgily took her place in the armchair across from Black Canary as their therapy session began.

"Hello, Kat," Canary greeted, almost sarcastically.

"'Sup, BC," Kat returned, with a small smile that was as fake as Jessica Simpson's last surgery stunt. Kat wasn't very good at acting, but she kept trying to look cheerful anyway. After a few more observing moments between the two female heroes, Kat decided she didn't want to keep up her act.

"Okay, let's cut the crap," Kat changed her attitude. "I'm here because Martian Manhunter said it was mandatory for all Team members, even though I thought that was a big load of bull. So, now I'm here. Fire away with all your questions and I will make the effort to answer." Kat didn't put on a fake smile, but she was certainly doing her trademarked red-lipstick smirk. Her black cat-eyeliner was on point, she clasped her hands together in her lap, and she waited for Black Canary to say something.

Aghast by how nonchalant, yet jittery Kat was behaving, Canary really had no words to say, but she had to think of something fast before Kat changed her bipolar-like behavior.

"Okay," BC started. "First of all: how can you be so calm after what I can imagine was such a traumatic event?"

"Easy," Kat answered instantly. "If you don't think too much about something, it doesn't end up bothering you. I learnt that the hard way."

"Okay…" Canary tried to think of another question. This time, like with Brittany, she decided to go completely off topic. "How about this: despite your _supposed_ hypersexuality, you seem to be the only one out of your sisters that doesn't have a boyfriend. Why is that?"

Kat remained silent for a full four minutes before answering the question.

"Well, _that_ was really random. Why on Earth should _you_ care?" Kat asked, sitting up straight, her gaze trained on Canary.

"I'm the one who asked the question, Kat," Canary said. "Why shouldn't you care to answer it?"

Kat's gaze turned cold. Her face had turned pale under all the fake tan she was wearing. Right there, was a fresh example of what a liar looked like.

"Well, for starters, I _do_ have a boyfriend—"

"Oh, really? What's his name?" BC asked, seemingly intrigued by the lies that were about to be uttered by the younger anti-hero.

"Dane Michaelson."

"Oh, please. He's just the guy you fantasize about when you fall asleep during class. Just answer the question... _please_."

Kat started to get more infuriated by the minute. She was digging her claws into the plush arm of the chair, as she had a staring competition with Black Canary. After about a whole six minutes, Kat wanted to avoid her make-up getting smudged by staring tears, so she finally gave up and spoke.

"Fine!" Kat concluded, leaning back into her chair in defeat. "I don't have a boyfriend! Okay? In fact, I don't think I ever will!" The argument was getting stranger by the minute.

"And why's that?" Canary pushed on. "Why would a California dream girl like you never have a chance with a guy?" Canary was testing Kat's patience. Something that Kat really needed to work on. Like, _really_.

A few more moments passed by as Kat pointedly tried to avoid BC's gaze, but as soon as Canary went to open her mouth, Kat blurted out loudly:

"I won't ever get a boyfriend because - I like girls!"

Everything went completely silent. The only thing that could be heard was the trickling water from the waterfall.

Kat threw her hand over her mouth as she realized what she had just confessed. Her whole body started to tremble from post-trauma, as she tried to hold back her tears, but that only made it worse. With no control whatsoever, she started to shed salty teardrops when nothing else would happen. It was as if something had _snapped_ inside of her. It was similar to the other night with Kaldur, except she didn't make any threats this time, she just got upset. Confused. Angry. Confined. Locked up. Restrained.

Nothing, not even Black Canary getting up to try and console her would stop the waterfall of tears. Kat's eyeliner and mascara started trickling down her face, making her look similar to that of a raccoon, but not in a funny way. Her sobs were similar to that of a mewling cat, which usually signaled that they weren't feeling well.

That was Kat.

She was sick and tired of hiding the _real_ her. She didn't want to be known as some fake Barbie doll with a pair of metal claws. Sure, she had a big mouth, but that was her natural attitude towards everything. She only acted tough to hide away her real insecurities that were being caged up like a domestic feline.

Before Black Canary could say anything more, Kat quickly ran outside, the sounds of the click-clacking of her heels were clearly audible, and her sobs could be heard all the way from the Cave's rec room.

"What do you think's going on out there?" Joe asked everyone else, being the first one to worry about his sister.

"Just let her be," Brittany said. "She'll be okay."

"That's almost like saying she'll be fine," Artemis piped up.

"That's not what I said," Brittany snapped back, standing up from the couch she was sitting on with Robin. She decided it was a good idea to finally sit with him instead of avoiding him.

Artemis put her hands in surrender, trying not to provoke her fellow Spidey. Brittany slowly sat back down as Robin put a protective arm around her. With the Team dealing with their rounds of PTSD, none of them could afford to have quarrels with each other.

* * *

Not long after the Team had heard the muffled crying of their feline team mate, Kat herself slowly walked into the rec room, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Just by looking at their fellow comrade in such a fragile state made the temperature in the room drop. After gaining a few stares from the Team, Kat regained her posture and went to go throw her mascara-stained tissue away.

"Wally, it's your turn," Kat croaked in a small voice. Clearly, crying made her voice sound as fragile as she looked.

All eyes went on Wally as he looked up at Kat and then at his bowl of popcorn.

"Um… okay," Wally said, getting up from his seat, taking his popcorn. As he walked from his seat to get out of the room, he stopped to offer Kat some, but surprisingly, she waved him off. When Wally had exited the room, Kat sat down next to Artemis, expecting to get questions thrown at her face.

"Wanna talk about it, or…?" Artemis asked.

"I can if you want me to," Kat slumped in her seat, crossing her arms on the bench. She rested her head on her arms in a mopey and defeated way.

"Well, I'm not gonna make you do anything you're not comfortable doing," Artemis said, giving Kat extra space.

Kat sniffed before answering. "You should go tell that to Canary."

Artemis widened her eyes and looked up at the rest of her team mates. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing. Or so she thought.

Over with the Wal-Man, the redhead was lying upside down on the green chair opposite Black Canary, who wore a very bored look on her face as if to say, 'Seriously?'. Wally just ignored the fact that she was waiting, and threw popcorn into the air, devouring each piece as they fell into his overused gob.

Tired of watching Wally eat his own fantasies, Black Canary decided to talk first.

"So, you want me to believe that after everything you went through… including your own death from a fiery explosion... you're peachy," Canary observed.

"I'm, uh, fairly certain I never used the word 'peachy'… but I think you got the gist," Wally continued being his typical self, stuffing more popcorn down his throat.

"So, you really have no interest in confronting your extreme reaction to Artemis's death?"

As soon as BC mentioned Artemis's name, Wally began to choke on his popcorn, as he began to sit upright. After quite a few coughs of choking on his food, Wally just went back to his 'hitting on the teacher' method. "I'd rather talk about _you_, babe."

Black Canary rested her head on one of her hands, as she looked at the young speedster, almost disgusted that he'd keep eating.

"Wally, you're in denial."

"I'm comfortable with that," Wally said, sitting back in his chair.

* * *

**NEW YORK CITY  
****OCTOBER 23, 19:12 EST**

"You do _Chemistry?_" Roy asked Tash, holding up a rather thick textbook, and then placing it on a pile of what seemed to be a stack of blue stationery. All along the width of Tash's queen-sized bed were color-coded piles of school things she and Roy were trying to organize.

"Yeah, it was either that or choosing Biology. And I think that's the class where you see a video of a baby being born," Tash answered, throwing a red notebook on one of the piles. No, she didn't throw it on Roy's head.

Roy was lying on his stomach, making a production line with Tash. He'd pick a random piece of stationery and hand it to Tash, so that she could put it in the pile she wanted it to be in. Sure, if he was absolutely positive that something went somewhere, he'd put it there. Tash was very picky when it came to color-coding things. Whilst the two were at work grouping colors with colors, Tash's TV on the wall was playing _Breaking Bad_ on Netflix. Yeah, a weird choice to watch for a couple sorting out school stuff, but Tash wanted to catch up on the episodes she'd missed.

After a few more sorts of pencils and erasers, Tash got a text from Hal. Whilst Tash began to read what seemed to be a paragraph from her mentor, Roy sneakily got a marker and one of the red notebooks, and started to write on the inside cover. After Tash had read the message, she caught Roy just in time to see him throw the notebook back into its pile. He tried to look as innocent as possible.

"What did you write?" Tash picked up the notebook and opened up to the front inside cover to find a message saying, 'TASH LOVES ROY'S D. ;)'

"How very charming of you," Tash said sarcastically, as she closed the notebook, and playfully swatted Roy's head with it before putting it back.

"You know it's true," Roy smirked, as he rolled onto his back, stretching out his arms and flexing his biceps.

"Whatever," Tash waved off. But as she was about to continue putting things in piles, she couldn't help herself but smirk at how muscular her boyfriend had gotten over the past few months. He was one hella hunky dude for sure.

"Pssh. 'Whatever' my ass," Roy said, as he motioned for Tash to come closer.

The two somehow managed to wrap themselves in an embrace with all of the stationery still sitting on the bed. Despite all the noise coming from the TV, Tash couldn't help but chuckle before leaning in and kissing Roy. He eagerly accepted it and kissed her back. Tash entwined her fingers in Roy's hair, when she got another text message. They both groaned in disappointment, as they pulled apart for Tash to grab her phone and find that it was again, from Hal Jordan. What a cockblock.

As Tash read the second message, Roy saw the confused look on her face when she sat up.

"What's up? What did he say?" Roy asked her, lying on his side.

"He… said that Earth's getting a new Green Lantern guy," Tash answered, showing Roy the texts.

"Well, judging from this, the Green Lantern is obviously a male," Roy pointed out after a few moments.

"No, _shit_— but yeah. I just don't know his name yet. Hopefully he's not as big of an idiot as both Guy and Hal combined." Tash shuddered at the possibility of someone being _that_ irritating.

"And hopefully," Roy lifted Tash's chin up so she could look him in the eyes, "he doesn't steal you away from me." He gave her a lingering kiss that seemed to last for ages, and then he sat up to pull Tash onto his lap.

Just when things start to get a little steamier, someone knocked on the door, making Tash jump in fright. Another cockblock. Roy silently groaned in disappointment as Tash got off his lap and opened the door to see who it was.

It was—to Tash's uttermost surprise—Carol Ferris.

"Hey, Tash," Carol greeted with a trademarked business smile. She took a panoramic look at what had been going on in Tash's bedroom, which honestly didn't look like any sensual activities had taken place, yet it looked like OfficeMax had just spewed all over Tash's bedcovers. "That's an awful lot of stationery you got there."

"Um… yeah," Tash breathed nervously. "Just gettin' ready for my next week of _high school_." She said it as if high school were some sort of prison – which to _her_ and a large population of school students in the world - it practically was.

"Heh," Carol chuckled, spotting Roy sitting up on Tash's bed; he made himself look busy by checking his phone, "but you're not getting ready to aviate."

"Uh…" Tash paused for a few seconds before weakly answering, "Yeah."

She put on the nicest smile she could muster, but Carol didn't buy it. Carol looked over at Roy and decided to disrupt his 'message checking'.

"Uh, Roy," Carol called from the doorway, Tash still standing in front of her, "would you mind if Tash and I could talk… alone? I promise it won't take long."

Roy looked up from his sorting and immediately took action. "Yeah, certainly," he said, putting on his red and black jacket. "But it's about time I left anyway."

Before Tash could say anything to object, Roy gave her a knowing look, gave her a kiss, and swiftly walked out the door; dodging Carol's sharp gaze. After Roy had completely left the apartment, Carol and Tash closed the door and got down to business.

"So," Carol was first to start. "I heard from my father recently, that you've quit your assistance at Ferris Aircraft. Am I correct?"

Tash slowly nodded her head, looking down at the floor as if it were a lot more interesting to look at.

"Now, what the _hell_ were you thinking, doing that?"

"I... I wasn't... thinking-" Tash looked up. She was in some deep shit now.

"And you wanna do _what_, in college?" Carol held a hand behind her ear as if she were having trouble hearing something. "_Acting_, I heard? Why, that's the strangest occupation I've ever heard Natasha Summer think of!"

Tash lowered her head in shame. Steve must have told Hal and Carol what Tash said to him the second he walked out of his apartment door. When Tash thought it was safe to look up again, she only saw Carol towering over her, arms crossed; brow furrowed and everything. She honestly didn't know what she was thinking when she told her dad she wanted to pursue acting as a career. But still, it was wrong of him to tell the last person she wanted to see so soon.

"Dad told you, didn't he?" Tash asked flatly.

"You can bet your life he did," Carol argued. She was fuming now. Tash was one of her best pilots, one of her only _female_ pilots. She didn't want her to slip away that easily.

Carol took a deep breath before sitting down next to Tash and putting an arm around her. "Listen, you can tell me what's going on. Steve didn't tell me that much, other than your dilemma about your Yale application. Acting's a really sissy job. It's for people who think they know what they're doing and they get paid thousands of dollars just to play parts like wizards and witches, automated robots, hot werewolves and sparkly vampires." Carol gave Tash a little shake of the shoulders to signify that she wasn't that angry anymore. "You can do a lot better than that. _Way_ better."

Tash gave her a small smile before frowning afterwards. "It's also a business that's pretty easy to get into when you give directors and an audience the right stuff," Tash said.

"So, you're choosing it because you think it'll be easy?" Carol looked at the younger woman in disbelief. "What happened to the Tash that gave herself new challenges every time she took off in a jet?"

Tash thought about it for a few moments. Maybe she didn't have to think so big. Maybe she just had to rethink the times she had when she really felt like herself.

"So, uh... have you filled in my old spot at the center yet?" Tash asked.

Carol's face looked up immediately. "No, not yet."

"Good. Because I _know_ what I'm gonna do next weekend," Tash put on a big smile.

* * *

"Hurting? Try traumatized."

It was Robin's turn to have a chat with Black Canary.

"I finally become leader and wind up sending all of my friends to their deaths," Robin said. "I-I know I did what I had to... but I hated it. When we started this team, I was _desperate_ to be in charge. Not anymore. And that's not even the worst of it." He lowered his head; looking at the floor (a lot of the Team's members had the habit of doing that). "Please don't tell Batman."

"Nothing leaves this room," Black Canary assured.

"I always wanted—expected—to grow up and become him. And the hero bit? I'm still all-in. But that _thing_ inside of him? The _thing_ that drives him to sacrifice everything for the sake of his mission? That's not me. I-I don't wanna be _the_ Batman anymore."

After that, Robin had stayed silent. It gave Canary some time to think about what he'd just told her. She knew how hard it must be to be the Boy Wonder and fight in the Bat's shadow, but she never knew it would be that hard for someone like Robin—like Dick Grayson—to feel that way.

When Robin came out from the room, he looked even sadder than he did before. It was harder than it looked to verbally express how you felt in a one-on-one therapy session with Black Canary. But of course, the only ones left to have their session, other than Superboy (hopefully), were M'gann and Joe. Joe decided to go first since he didn't have much to say to Black Canary. So, without further ado, Joe went and entered the room, facing Black Canary in his chair.

Joe looked even more bored than his sister did. And that was saying something. When BC tried to strike a conversation with him, his only responses were, 'Yep', 'I don't know' and 'I guess'. So, after a few more attempts at sophisticated conversation, Canary gave up and let him go.

Sooner or later, it was M'gann's turn to fess up her feelings to Canary.

"It was all my fault," M'gann said morosely, bumping her head in her usual way, following with, "_Hello_, Megan. Who else could take a simple exercise and turn it into a nightmare that terrorizes everyone she cares about?" M'gann continued. As M'gann said those words, her green skin had changed its color.

Black Canary gave her a worried look. "You've turned white."

M'gann gasped before standing up to look at herself. "No! Oh... you meant Caucasian. Yeah, I'm fine being Megan." She slowly sat back down. "But I can't be trusted to use my other powers."

"M'gann, you're Martian," BC said, trying to make M'gann feel at least natural. "Not using your natural abilities is like me refusing to speak. Which, by the way, I tried for a while… after my very first Canary Cry nearly deafened my entire first-grade class. So, I get how you feel, but not being yourself is never the answer and won't make your feelings of guilt go away. Learn from what happened. Your uncle would be happy train you. Even Charles Xavier would help and he's way more than just a well experienced telepathic professor. Practice until you gain control and regain your confidence."

As Black Canary spoke those words, she realized that she should have said all of that to Kat, as well as M'gann.

* * *

**Hello... it's me. *slowly waves at you* This chapter was meant to be published AGES ago, but I've been a lil' shit and didn't update until now. :O**

**So, my goal for this story, is to get to the end, explain some things, and get you guys ready for the second story, which I will spoil the title: My Life In Heroic Battles. How bloody original of me. Story 2 will be based on season two of Young Justice (as any genius would have guessed), and it will be ANOTHER foundation for another story, which I will change to a DC and Marvel crossover, which will be based on DC's New 52 and Marvel's Civil War universes/storylines. **

**Anywhore, for those of you who are still following and reviewing this story, I want to thank you because without your hints of motivation, I would not have sat down on my ass and written this chapter. Kudos to you ;)**

**Happy Reading... XD**


	29. Fright Night

**Chapter 28: Fright Night**

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE  
OCTOBER 31, 19:34 EDT**

The ever so spiritual night of Halloween got interrupted by the sound of Wally West howling at the ceiling in front of Wolf. He suddenly stopped when he realized that his fellow canine wasn't feeling the spirit.

"Really? You're not gonna join in at all?" Wally said disappointedly. "What kind of wolf _are_ you?"

"Wally, stop torturing him," Conner said from across the Cave's echoey central room. As he spoke, M'gann was wrapping some fake mummy gauze across his head.

"Hold still, please," M'gann pleaded politely, wrapping more and more gauze all over Conner's stoic figure.

"_Megan_, stop torturing him," Wally cut across M'gann's mummy-wrapping process. "Awkward for him anyway, being the third wheel on our date."

_"Recognized; Cat Girl, B08. Havok 2.0, B09,"_ the computer started to announce. Kat strutted into the Cave's HQ wearing a very skimpy looking Garfield outfit. She had the orange face paint on, the tail attached and the rest of Garfield made into a very tight-fitting catsuit. Wally was practically drooling at the sight of his feline comrade.

"God," Wally went down on his knees, clasped his hands together and looked up at the ceiling. "You did good," he pretended to sniff a tear. "You did really, really, _really_ good… Amen."

Kat scoffed at Wally's 'prayer'. "Calm your molecular boner, Kid Mouth. Science was the _real_ reason why I'm like this."

Wally huffed at Kat's saddening remark when M'gann continued their conversation.

"Wally, I invited the entire team to the dance," she expressed in annoyance. "Zatanna, too." Kat's ears immediately propped up when she heard the name 'Zatanna'. Gee, way to make it obvious.

Wally got up from his knees and walked closer to M'gann. "Good. Keep us on the _down-low_." M'gann smirked at his statement as Conner rolled his eyes. Kat scoffed again as Joe attempted to fix any small errors with his costume. He was dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Kat tutted in annoyance at her twin, as she helped straighten out any unwanted creases. Joe just swatted at her clawed hands, as if he were a cranky seamstress.

"Don't smooth out the technicalities of the costume, 'Trina! You _know_ how long it took me to get this just right!" Joe fussed, attempting to brush off Kat's aura. Kat suddenly froze where she stood as she quickly realized what her brother had said. It looked like she wasn't the only closeted Summer child in the Cave at the time. She hastily unfroze her stance before Joe got suspicious of her behavior, and turned her attention back to Wally and M'gann.

"So… you going as my favorite Martian?" Wally drawled, the fake werewolf hair on his face flapping up and down as he spoke.

"Not exactly," M'gann answered, as she walked out into the open, slowly transforming into a costumed zombie bride. She gruesomely growled in an undeadly tone before breaking her act.

"Whoa. Babe, eat my brains anytime," Wally scratched the back of his head, wonder struck at M'gann's transformation.

"Great minds think alike," piped up a manly voice that came from behind the group.

"Captain, you look terrific," M'gann complimented Captain Marvel on his zombie face paint as he walked towards them with a big grin. "Are you going to a Halloween celebration, too?"

Captain's face immediately dropped; he clearly thought he was going to the Happy Harbor Halloween dance with the Team. Sadly, they didn't reciprocate his thoughts.

"Well, sure, I'm going with… uh-uh, I mean, you did invite the whole team, right?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, we'll all be at the dance," M'gann remained in her enthusiastic mood. "So, don't worry about us. Go. Have a good time at your party." She managed to say that all without blinking _once_. Good on her.

Suddenly, the computer recognized their next party guest, _"Recognized; Artemis, B11. Zatanna Zatara, A03."_

"Oh, hey, Zatanna. You look great," Kat cheerfully greeted Zatanna, as she and Artemis arrived.

"Oh, thanks. You too," Zatanna smiled back, as the two girls hugged. Kat was so getting ins. Well, in her _head_ she was.

"Hey, Artemis," Kat greeted from over Zatanna's shoulder. Artemis smiled and waved back. Zatanna was dressed as a witch and Artemis was dressed as a vampire. Classy. Both girls unwound themselves from their hug as Artemis and Zatanna noticed Captain Marvel was at the Cave.

"Oh, look. Zombie Captain Marvel," Zatanna said, surprised. "That's hilarious. Is the Justice League having a party? 'Cause my dad didn't mention it." She and Kat raised their eyebrows at each other before turning back to Captain Marvel.

"No, no, no, no, see, I…" Captain began to scratch the back of his head, trying to fuse away the awkward tension. He finally gave up after he saw all of the Team's confused faces. "Fine, I'm going trick-or-treating." He swiftly flew over to the Cave's Zeta platform.

_"Recognized; Captain Marvel, 15."_

Captain Marvel grumpily crossed his arms as if he were a small child. "And I'm _not_ sharing my candy," he said before zeta-beaming out of the Cave.

"Ha! What a loser," Kat smirked, before getting a look from Zatanna, signalling her to stop.

Everyone else went back to their business when Kat, Artemis and Zatanna saw M'gann rolling some mummy gauze on one of Conner's biceps.

"So, how long have Conner and Megan been a couple?" Zatanna asked the girls in an undertone. Apparently, Artemis was the only one besides Wally who was oblivious to Conner and M'gann's gracious flirtation.

"Ha! Couple? No," Artemis laughed and looked at Zatanna, "they're not a…" The girls quickly turned back to look at the group.

M'gann giggled as Conner kept moving. "Will you please stop fidgeting?"

"You are so making this up to me later," Conner said to M'gann with a smile.

"Jesus Christ," Kat scrunched up her face in disgust as she reluctantly observed the two aliens in love.

"I thought you weren't religious?" Zatanna raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying the Lord's name in vain. I'm basically swearing it; that makes me far from religious," Kat snarked, still scowling at M'gann and Conner's fluffiness.

After witnessing the lovely exchange from the couple, Artemis squinted at the pair and proceeded to walk to the Zeta platform.

"Uh, I-I'm sorry," Zatanna quickly ran after Artemis, as did Kat much to the Summer sister's utter annoyance. "It just seemed so obvious. I-I didn't realize… wait, the dance!" The three girls stopped in their tracks.

"Not in the mood," Artemis crossed her arms in irritation. "Of course, sitting at home with my mom doesn't sound any more appealing."

"No offence, but that sounds really, really _sad_," Kat piped up, earning a nudge in the ribs from Zatanna. Kat really was gonna have to learn to keep her mouth shut if she saw herself ending up with this girl.

"Well, there is another option," Zatanna said brightly, as she cast one of her backwards-worded spells. _"Egnahc sehtolc otni ruo smrofinu!"_ And in a swirly wisp of magic, all three young heroines were dressed in their team uniforms.

"Girls' night out," Zatanna announced, almost in a show-like manner.

Artemis's frown quickly turned upside down, as did Kat's scowl. The three of them left through the zeta-tubes and equipped their motorcycles whilst they were at it.

**MANHATTAN**  
**OCTOBER 31, 19:57 EDT**

The three girls each rode out of the Manhattan Zeta platform (which was through a big graffitied wall underneath a bridge), and began their girls' night out on the town.

* * *

**HAPPY HARBOR  
****OCTOBER 31, 20:15 EDT**

"Too bad the rest of the Team couldn't make it." M'gann, Conner, Wally and Joe made their way into Happy Harbor High's gym as they took in their surroundings. Conner widened his eyes in horror then in annoyance as he looked at every other student's costumes.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he growled under his breath.

Almost every single Happy Harbor student except for the attending members of the Team were dressed up in different superhero get-ups. Even some people were dressed up as characters from Scooby Doo.

The Team were suddenly spotted by M'gann's group of friends from school (Conner and Joe didn't really like them, if they were being completely honest). Wendy Harris dragged both Karen Beecher and Marvin White (who was furiously typing away on his phone, that little antisocial prick) with her, and Mal Duncan followed up behind.

"You look amazing!" Wendy complimented M'gann on her zombie-bride getup.

"Who did your makeup, girl?" Karen asked as well, admiring M'gann's organic look.

Mal Duncan looked Conner up and down, all the while judging his costume.

"Burn victim?" He asked, lowering his eighties' style sunglasses.

"Mummy. You?" Conner asked his way.

"Superman…" Mal fixed up his glasses. "...done right." He gestured towards himself, as Conner observed his costume. It really _wasn't_ done right. He just looked like Superman with a motorcycle cross eighties' fetish. The rest of the group had Karen dressed as a bumblebee, Wendy as Black Canary and Marvin as a cheap-looking Batman.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Conner said in a sarcastic tone that Kat would be proud of.

Breaking the somewhat awkward exchange between Conner and Mal, M'gann decided to introduce Wally to her school friends. "Wally, this is Wendy, Karen, Mal and…"

Their extra friend was still busy typing away on his smartphone.

"Ignore Marvin," Wendy snooted. "He thinks we're being invaded by Martians." She rolled her eyes as she pointedly put a hand on her hip.

"I never said that," Marvin fumed annoyingly, hastily scrolling on his phone. "It's just, reports are all over the interwebs and I'm not the only one getting them."

Suddenly, everyone's phones started beeping with notifications.

"I mean, Martians aren't _invading_. It's just a prank gone viral. Right?" Marvin reckoned, shrugging his shoulders.

"Of course it's a prank," Mr Carr piped up from the refreshments table. He was sporting an eye patch whilst pouring himself some punch. "Ever hear of Martian Manhunter? Martians aren't hostile."

"Of course not," M'gann said, forcing a smile. Wally and Joe just raised their eyebrows at their fellow Martian in disguise.

**MOUNT JUSTICE**  
**OCTOBER 31, 20:29 EDT**

"Computer, secure the room," announced Batman, as he, Red Tornado, Aqualad, Robin, Red Arrow and Green Lantern Girl were present in the Cave's conference room.

_"Secured,"_ the computer accepted his command.

"I'll cut to it," Batman acknowledged RT and the younger heroes. "Do we believe there's a mole within the Team?"

"I'm convinced there is none," Kaldur stepped forward. "When Sportsmaster claimed he had an inside source, he was merely sowing dissent."

"His intel could easily have come by comparing notes with other villains working for the Injustice League," Robin pointed out, seemingly relaxing in one of the room's armchairs. "And think about it… if anyone on the Team was working with those creepoids-"

"He or she would have betrayed us during our fight against them," Tash answered for him. She would've known if anyone on the Team were to betray them since her last encounter with the Injustice League.

"I'm not convinced," Roy said to her, as he turned back to Robin and Kaldur. "Sure, you three, the other Summer siblings and Kid Flash are above suspicion, but I know Artemis isn't shooting straight. For starters, she's not Green Arrow's niece."

"What?" Kaldur and Tash questioned at the same time.

"Well, yeah," Robin sat forward in his chair. "In fact, she's related to-"

"Enough," Batman walked over to Robin and put a hand on his shoulder. "Artemis's relations may indeed make her suspect, but she's still entitled to a secret identity. I'm more concerned about Superboy." Batman walked over to Roy. "We still know very little about what Cadmus programmed into their weapon. Conner could be the mole and not know it."

"And what about Miss Martian? She is Manhunter's niece," Roy interjected. "But he told Black Canary he has a few hundred nieces and nephews. And the first time he met M'gann was five months ago when she stowed away on his last trip from Mars to Earth."

"This changes nothing," Kaldur claimed. "I have fought side by side with these people. None are traitors." Robin sat back in his chair with a frown at what Kaldur said.

**NEW YORK CITY**  
**OCTOBER 31, 20:44 EDT**

The three girls arrived at their destination, which was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They spotted a number of police cars outside of the building as they observed the crime scene.

"Whatever happened here is over," Artemis said. "I want some action."

"Of course you do, Artemis. But sadly, Wally isn't here," Kat smirked, as Artemis gave her a dirty look.

"Don't push me, _Me-Mow_," Artemis snarked back.

"Ouch," Kat put her hand over her heart at the _Adventure Time_ reference Artemis made.

"Okay, guys, but Artemis, maybe you need to talk… uh, about Conner and Megan, or whatever," Zatanna offered.

As soon as Zatanna mentioned Conner and Megan, Artemis angrily revved her engine and drove ahead of her and Kat. The two girls followed suite as Artemis vented out her frustration.

"What I need is something to beat up," Artemis grumbled, her knuckles taut on her handlebars.

"Preach, sister," said the ever so 'faithful' Katrina.

As the girls sped along the streets of Manhattan, they started by cleaning up the streets of petty crimes; their first one being a couple in the middle of getting mugged nearby an ATM.

Kat quickly put her motorcycle on auto-drive as she jumped off from it, and proceeded to crack her whip at his gun as Artemis shot a few arrows at him, pinning him to the outside of the nearest building. Kat quickly ran after the girls and her vehicle when Zatanna cast a spell to help her.

_"Tfil taK otno reh elcycrotom!"_ Kat needed to remind herself to stop being such a show-off.

Next was a bank robbery. Artemis quickly shot some arrows at the armed robbers and Kat threw some magnetic rope, as it wrapped around the criminals' bodies, binding their arms to their sides. The girls continued when they spotted a lonesome female jogger about to get apprehended by a street gang. The girls stopped their trip where the situation was as they took advantage of the problem.

Artemis and Kat quickly took on the guys as Zatanna cast a spell on the female jogger.

_"Etativel reh!"_ The girl got magically lifted into the air as the two blonds beat the crap out of the street gang.

When the deed was done, the trio started walking back to their motorbikes.

"There were easier ways to take them," Zatanna admitted.

"Those assholes deserved the asskicking they got, Zee. Can I call you that, by the way?" Kat asked, looking at her magician hopefully.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't get too cocky about it," Zatanna gave her a small smile.

"Kat's right, Zatanna. They had it coming. No harm done," Artemis agreed.

Suddenly, the girls' bikes got demolished in a fiery explosion. The girls got knocked back off their feet by the force of the explosion. They all grunted as they got back up. They saw a tall figure emerge from the smoke, and out came a strange looking man with long black hair wearing an open trench coat, and had a long red claw mark over his left eye. He was holding what looked to be a sword and scabbard.

"No, indeed," he said in a deep gravelly voice. "Harm is not done. Much harm left to do. The its cannot escape Harm."

"Escaping isn't on the menu," Artemis grunted as she starting firing arrows at their new threat.

"With arrows do not impress," Harm swatted the arrows away with his sword.

"Fine," Zatanna announced, putting out her hand as she spoke an incantation. _"Taeh taht s'nopaew latem!"_

"Neither does its magic," Harm said, as he watched his sword get melted but then return to its original state. "Thee must do better or suffer harm."

"Ugh, I can't believe we have to deal with _this_ asshat, now," Kat complained, unsheathing her cat claws.

Artemis was still paying attention to Harm's riddle-talk. "We get it. Your name is Harm."

"Their ridiculous garb and rudimentary skills indicate instruction from Green Arrow, Catwoman and Zatara. Harm will study these three to learn methods for killing their mentors." He pointed his sword towards the three heroines.

"Oh, you did _not_ just threaten my dad," Zatanna criticized.

"I can't believe he just threatened _Catwoman_. This dude _must_ be new," Kat raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips in a sassy manner.

_"Etativel drows ot em!"_ Zatanna cast another spell on Harm's sword, wanting it to levitate to her. The sword started shaking in Harm's grasp.

"It wants Harm's sword? Very well." Harm quickly threw the sword at Zatanna and let it fly, but she quickly dodged it.

"Big mistake, harmster," Kat scolded, as she quickly ran up to Harm and attempted to give him an extra claw mark on his face. Harm quickly dodged her sharp swipes and kicked her into a nearby car.

"Kat!" Artemis exclaimed, as she shot more arrows in Harm's direction.

"Ugh…" Kat clutched her head as she got up from dent she made in the car. "I hope that person has insurance." She wheezed in pain as she clutched her side.

Almost out of nowhere, Zatanna spotted a small girl wearing white appear at the front of a nearby alleyway. It looked as if she was beckoning them to come with her.

"On second thought, running," Zatanna said to the two other girls.

"Okay, yeah. To regroup," Artemis understood as she and Kat followed after Zatanna.

_"Erif nrub, nordluac elbbub!"_ Zatanna cast a spell to delay Harm in catching them by causing a ring of fire and smoke to engulf him in a distraction.

"Righteous!" Kat complimented, as the three girls ran down the street.

"Something I've been practicing since Red-" Zatanna began, but Artemis quickly saw the same girl dressed in white waving at them to follow her.

"Wait! Who's that?" Artemis asked, as they continued running.

"Do you give a shit right now?" Kat responded.

"No," Artemis answered, as they followed the small girl into the alleyway.

"Great! 'Little Miss Snow Queen' led us to a dead end!" Kat scowled, putting her hands on her hips.

"Where'd she go?" Artemis asked, acting just as annoyed as Kat.

They suddenly heard metal clanking coming from the building to their right. The girls spotted the girl in white waving from atop the roof and ladder leading up to where she was.

"What is this? An episode of frickin' _Supernatural_?" Kat complained.

"I thought you didn't believe in religion?" Zatanna raised an eyebrow.

"I don't!" Kat was the first to start climbing up the metal ladder. The trio heaved themselves over the edge of the building and onto the rooftop.

"Thanks for the assist, but who are you?" Zatanna asked the girl in white.

"Secret," was all the small girl had to say for herself.

"I'm afraid that won't convince us you're not a demon child. We need answers and we need 'em now," Kat quipped.

"Do you know Harm? Does he have any weaknesses?" Artemis quizzed the small girl on the spot.

"Secret," the girl answered again. Well, _that_ was helpful. Although, in a matter of seconds, she pointed behind the girls and the three of them collectively gasped as they saw Harm jump onto the roof.

"At least they make the hunt interesting," Harm seemed to speak to himself.

"This guy talks to himself more than Joker does. And that's _saying_ something!" Kat bellowed as Harm inched closer towards the group of girls.

"He's fast. I'll give him that," Artemis said to the others. She quickly nocked an arrow to her bow's string and shot it at a nearby water tank, causing it to rapidly spurt out water.

_"Dloc dniw wolb! Dloc dniw wolb! Dloc dniw wolb!"_ Zatanna chanted at the water as it rose up into the air, freezing a dome of ice around Harm's falling figure. But the magic of his sword heated up and cast a bright light in his surroundings, shattering it as it emitted bolts of lightning. The girls started to notice that the area where Harm's heart was began glowing.

The girls began running again, but they seemed to had lost their friend.

"Where'd little Miss Secret go?" Artemis bellowed.

"There!" Zatanna spotted the girl, whom was across from them on another building. The girl waved at them again, beckoning them to come to her.

"Okay," Zatanna gasped she ran, "these boots - adorable - but for a chase sequence… not so good. And yours must be agony, too, Kat."

"Huh-" Kat stuttered, but Zatanna was one step ahead of her.

_"Lacitcarp raewtoof won!"_

Both of Kat and Zatanna's heels vanished and their shoes changed into ones with more appropriate soles. The three girls jumped across to the other building as Harm chased after them, wielding his sword all the while.

* * *

**HAPPY HARBOR**  
**OCTOBER 31, 21:04 EDT**

Back at the Halloween dance, the scenery consisted of many odd costumes, mainly consisting of different superheroes and various villains. There were costumes starting from Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lanterns (even Green Lantern Girl, seeming as she was the most popular hero out of her siblings), the Hawks, Captain Marvel, Harley Quinn, Riddler, Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Flash, Wolverine and even some younger girls were dressed up as Spider-Girl. As everyone continued enjoying themselves on the dance floor, the lights in the gymnasium went out in a wave of darkness. Nobody could see a thing.

"Hey!"

"What's going on?"

"Who turned out the lights?"

Luckily, the gym's emergency lights glowered throughout the room, but they were really dim and didn't provide much light.

"Probably just a blown fuse," Mr Carr called out to the crowd, clearly not being surprised in the slightest.

"Says here Martians have taken New Haven and Providence," Mal said as he looked at the resources on his phone.

"Spotted in Happy Harbor, too," Wendy added, looking at her phone as well.

"Guys, guys. It's a Halloween cliche," Mr Carr waved around at the group of teenagers.

"Meaning it happens a lot?" Karen snapped.

Suddenly, the school's loudspeaker dodgily activated as a deep muffled voice began to speak through it. _"Attention, homeland security advises everyone to stay inside the gymnasium. This is not meant as confirmation of any alien invasion."_

"I knew it! I knew it!" Karen raised her hand in utter annoyance.

"Alright, come on!" Wendy said in an irritated voice.

"I told you! I told you!" Mal argued with the two girls, as the three of them walked away from Conner, M'gann, Joe and Wally. "Bring them on! Bring them on!"

"Don't mess with me! Come on!" Wendy argued as they walked.

_[We should call the Cave.]_ thought M'gann.

_[Wait.]_ thought Conner, as he used his low-key x-ray vision to see through the outside of the gym. He then spotted a skinny Batman-like figure speaking through the school's loudspeaker.

_"For your own safety, remain inside,"_ Marvin said through the microphone. He silently chuckled to himself, like the nerd he was. "Best Halloween prank ever!" He spoke to himself so he wouldn't be heard over the loudspeaker.

Conner smirked at the rest of the Team. Joe, Wally and M'gann exchanged nervous glances with each other, as they were nervous at what Conner would do about the sitch.

**MOSCOW**  
**NOVEMBER 1, 04:09 UTC**

When everyone else was celebrating Halloween by going to a Halloween dance and getting chased by some evil sword-wielder, Brittany Summer was spending her Halloween tied up in chairs with the ever so legendary Black Widow. Yes, Brittany didn't live used at S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore, but she was still counted as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. It was still Halloween back in the United States, but Russia was eight hours ahead of American time. It also seemed that Black Widow and Brittany upset a certain Russian supervillainess: the Iron Maiden. AKA, Melina Von Vostokoff. AKA, probably one of Black Widow's most hated enemies she's ever made.

"How the hell did I end up tied up to a chair in Moscow with you, Widow?" Brittany asked the older heroine. "I could be at a cheesy high school Halloween dance right now." She huffed in muffled annoyance.

"Hey, Miss Muffet, you're the one who volunteered to work with me on this mission," Widow replied, rolling her eyes at her fellow Spidey comrade. "I didn't ask for you to be here."

"Yeah, well, I needed to find a way to prove to that jackass, Nova, that I'm not some prissy schoolgirl."

"And what does that kid's opinion matter to you?"

"Because if I show him that I'm not some prissy schoolgirl, he'll have to learn some respect for both me _and_ Spider-Man. Get my drift?"

"Yes," Widow said reluctantly. "Unfortunately I do."

Before any of the two could say anything else, both agents heard the doors of the room bang open as Iron Maiden herself walked through the doors; the metal of her armor clanking on the cold stone floor with each step that she took.

_"Таk tak tak… Chto zhe my imeyem zdes'?"_ _(So, so, so… what do we have here?)_ Iron Maiden walked around the pair of agents, eyeing their every move. _"Black Widow a takzhe Spider-Girl." (Black Widow and Spider-Girl)_

_"Chto vy sobirayetes' s etim delat', Maiden? Vy sobirayetes' nas ubit'?" (What are you going to do about it, Maiden? You're going to kill us?)_ Brittany sneered at the woman in armor.

_"Net, molodoy odin. Moya yedinstvennaya tsel' sostoit v tom, chtoby sobrat' nekotoruyu informatsiyu," (No, young one. My only goal is to collect some information)_ Maiden said in her bionic voice. _"...nekotoraya informatsiya dlya Madame Hydra." (...some information for Madame Hydra)_

Brittany gasped at what Iron Maiden told them. Black Widow had somewhat remained quiet and rather stoic throughout the whole exchange.

_"Khvatit ob etom," (Enough of this)_ Widow said to Brittany, as she trained her gaze on the Iron Maiden. _"Lyubaya informatsiya, chto ona khochet… ona dolzhna zhdat'." (Any information that she wants… she has to wait)_ And without further ado, Black Widow stood up, still attached to her chair, and quickly smashed it against Iron Maiden, as Brittany broke free of her restrains and shot webs at the armored woman, blinding her vision.

When the guards outside heard the crash of Iron Maiden's armor falling to the ground, they immediately began pouring into the room, attacking the female agents all the while. Brittany sarcastically thanked Nick Fury in her head for the lovely mission she agreed to do (probably when she was bribing him for something). This was definitely a post-Halloween that she would not forget easily.

**NEW YORK CITY**  
**OCTOBER 31, 21:26 EDT**

The three girls were still having trouble with their foe that went by the name, Harm. Harm had no struggle constantly throwing various weapons at the girls. He vapidly threw a knife at Artemis, narrowly missing her by inches, but managed to cut her bow string in half.

"Hold him off while I restring," she ordered the others, as they turned to Harm.

"Gotcha." Kat pulled out her whip and decided that Harm needed a little bit of some much needed whiplash. She cracked her whip in his direction a few times, as a warning sign to get ready for some Cat Girl action. Her whip created ashen black marks on the pavement as it hit it with such force.

"Nice whip, Indiana Jones," Zatanna quipped, quickly dodging a swing from Harm.

"I try. I really do," Kat responded, finally hitting Harm in the chest, giving him a big red mark where her whip cracked at him.

Absolutely outraged by the fact that Cat Girl had just made a mark on Harm, he attempted to kick her away, but she ended up using her acrobatic skills to kick away any weapons he was holding and stopped him in his tracks. "You wanna play without the toys, honeybun?"

"It tries to bait Harm… leave Harm weak," he said, reaching for his sword in its scabbard. "But Harm has no weakness." So, to try and prove his macho point, Harm took off his trench coat, leaving himself shirtless. Of course, with Kat being who she was, his abs had absolutely no effect on her whatsoever, so she was gonna do just fine.

It was time for a Cat Girl and Harm face off.

Kat gave him her every shot, but he managed to dodge every single move she pulled. He blocked, maneuvered and cheated his way out of all of Kat's signature stunts. Since Kat was having no luck in harming Harm, Artemis stepped in to help; Zatanna went over to Harm's magical sword, which was enclosed in its scabbard in the ground, which was in the shape of a gruesome-looking hand. She gripped onto it as tight as she could, and pulled with all her might, but she had no such luck getting it out. Its little security system electrified Zatanna, causing her to fall to the ground.

"So unfocused," Harm taunted the two blonds he was fighting. "They struggle with inner demons and can't fight Harm while fighting themselves. Harm doesn't battle his demons. Harm embraces them."

"Would Harm please shut up?" Artemis complained, as she attempted at kicking him in his loins.

"Y'know, speaking in the third person about yourself really isn't healthy for you, dicksickle!" Kat joined in on the kicking-Harm's-loins activity.

"And they care about others and spurting rudimentary remarks," Harm said, as he effortlessly knocked both Artemis and Kat to the ground beside Zatanna. "Another weakness." Harm picked up his trench coat and put it back on. "The sword rejected its impure heart. It has not made the sacrifices Harm has to become pure."

Whilst Harm was harmlessly monologuing, the girls looked up in another direction. "Look!" Zatanna pointed out. "It's Secret!" The girls spotted Secret waving at them to go follow her. "She hasn't led us wrong so far." The girls quickly got up and started to run. Artemis took out one of her smoke arrows and planted it in front of Harm, causing yet another quick delay. Harm simply waved the smoke away as he spotted the trio running away.

"The its think to escape Harm but draw near to home," Harm said to himself, as he watched them run. "Such considerate its."

As the girls continued running on their wild goose chase, their sprinting may have slowed down, but their conversation didn't.

"Aw, she's gone again. Now what?" Kat asked, as the girls stopped on the edge of a building.

"End of the line," Zatanna answered for her, looking back at where they had just come from. "And we can't go back the way we came." She looked back at the girls. "He's coming."

"We'll zipline to that magic store," Artemis suggested, gesturing towards the smaller building that was across the street. Its name was _Abel's House of Secrets_ written in neon purple. Classy.

The girls suddenly got apprehended by Harm again, as he had caught up with them. The three of them dodged Harm's bolt of lightning, landing on a lower building.

"This can be no coincidence," Harm said, as he landed in front of the female trio. "They alight on Harm's very roof. How did they know? Tell Harm, now!"

"I _will_ when you stop speaking in the goddamn third person!" Kat yelled back at him.

"Wait, this is your place?" Artemis asked Harm, as she held her spare crossbow.

"No more games," Harm growled, getting angrier by the minute. Without any warning sign, Harm viciously jabbed his sword into the paved rooftop and caused a crack to appear in the ground; his usual orange lightning striking every given space of his surroundings, including the three girls, zapping them all unconscious.

**HAPPY HARBOR**  
**OCTOBER 31, 21:31 EDT**

Back at Happy Harbor, a few freshmen students started to sneak out of the gym, but quickly got stopped by Marvin, who was conveniently outside.

"I have orders to keep everyone inside," Marvin put his hands on his hips, trying to look authoritative. "Or did you freshmen want to become Martian chow?" The younger students reluctantly walked back inside the gymnasium as Marvin chuckled to himself.

Suddenly, Marvin heard a couple of panicked voices coming from across the back courtyard.

"The Martians are coming! The Martians are coming!" It was Wally and Joe. The two boys were running towards Marvin.

Making Marvin almost jump out of his skin, Conner had appeared behind him and pointed in the opposite direction. "Look out! They have disintegration rays!"

As soon as Conner pointed that out, a bright flash of light lit up the entire courtyard, as an invisible outline of a large fictional-looking Martian appeared, with glowing green eyes. It appeared in full solid color, holding what looked to be a shrink ray, and roared a shrieking sound at Marvin.

Marvin was absolutely shitting his pants at that point. Conner quickly pushed him out of the way. "Run, Marvin! I'll hold it off." Conner began to run up to the Martian, but the alien used its telekinesis to lift him up into the air; Conner acted scared all the while. The Martian vastly flung him onto the concrete ground, making him look defeated. The alien did it again, and made Conner's body slide towards Marvin on the pavement.

That was enough to make Marvin scream like an absolute sissy and run back into the gymnasium. Conner opened his eyes and chuckled as he got back up from the ground. The Martian transformed back into its original state, which was zombie-bride M'gann, and Wally and Joe went over to their group.

"Heh, come on. We do _not_ wanna miss this," Conner told the others, smiling all the while.

The four of them walked back into the building, making in before Marvin could raucously stumble his way inside, freaking out as he did. He roughly took off his rubber cowl and started exclaiming, "Martians are invading! Martians!"

"Marvin, chill," Wendy said. "We got the memo."

"No! Before it was all a prank I pulled," he admitted. "Now it's definitely real. The Martians just killed three guys."

"Which three guys?" M'gann walked up behind Marvin, as he spun around to see the zombie-bride.

"_Those_ three guys!" Marvin jabbed a finger behind M'gann, pointing at Conner, Wally and Joe. The four team members exchanged dumbfounded glances before looking back at Marvin. "Wait! I… uh… oh."

"Marvin?" Wendy questioned with a puzzled look, but it slowly turned into an annoyed glare, shared by pretty much everyone else at the dance.

"Trick or treat?" Marvin put on a weak smile, shrugging his shoulders.

"My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled," Joe piped up in a scurvy British accent, saying the final golden line of the night, which caused everyone to laugh at Marvin.

"Really? You just had to reference _Pirates of the Caribbean_?" Wally asked in a 'are you serious?' tone.

"_What?_ It was about time I said something worthwhile tonight," Joe said matter-of-factly, speaking back in his American accent.

The rest of the Team just face palmed at Joe's somewhat convenient timing of the movie quote.

* * *

**A/N: I regret nothing.**

**Happy Reading! XD**


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